


A Short List's Dilemma

by antrivictrianne89



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hollywood, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, Melodrama, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:41:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29458407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antrivictrianne89/pseuds/antrivictrianne89
Summary: A Hollywood AU where Mason "Dipper" Pines, a rookie scriptwriter who has a shot on writing his first movie: The Lady With The Blonde Hair. He comes across to work with the main actress, Pacifica "Elise" Northwest who seems to be in troubling times in the Hollywood industry. As they find patience in the making of the film, they find themselves in a different position unlike when they were before. They write a page by page of their own story together as they get to know each other in each other's part. As the story goes on and on, it does deserve an ending, doesn't it?
Relationships: Pacifica Northwest & Dipper Pines, Pacifica Northwest/Dipper Pines
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	1. Author's Note

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all." ― Helen Keller, The Open Door

The word "Short List" has two meanings in the film making industry

a.) When you're a known writer in a particular genre. For example, he or she is on the short list of horror genre writers.

b.) a list of people who have been judged the most suitable for a job or prize, made from a longer list of people originally considered, and from which one person will be chosen.

A Short List's Dilemma is about Dipper Pines, a rookie scriptwriter and Pacifica Northwest, a troubling star actress goes a long with the challenge of making a film based of the a classic coming of age novel, both face the dilemmas of what it's like to be working in the film industry as a low class citizen and as a unrecognized celebrity in the making.

Mature themes such as strong language and ideologically implied sensitive themes are rarely in event in this series. Most of the characters in this fanfiction are from Gravity Falls and the other characters are originally mine.

I do not own the Disney show and Alex Hirsch's creativity or creations. I hope you enjoy the first part of the series

with love, Antrivictrianne


	2. Prologue

It was a beautiful morning in the streets of LA. The sun was shining brightly, the skies were blue, and Dipper was satisfied to mark a perfect day to start his first job in Hollywood. 

Well, it was just a start at best.

"Mabel, for the last time. I don't need that fancy glitter stained stationery,” He was piling his papers in his bag that appears to be next on a pile of books, on his desk in his bedroom.

He was both nervous and excited to be having his first job in the Hollywood. He studied film for a reason; he always loved thrillers since he was 8. Ghost Harassers was his all time favorite without a doubt. He always admired movies with a lot of foreshadowing and tragic endings, which is why he liked old films like The Shining very much.

He never wanted to be a director though, he knew he never had the skills to be a leader. Back in 4th grade, he was chosen to be the class leader to make a skit for their annual school fair day. It ended up with him panicking and the performance turning into something entirely different than what he planned. He loved to write stories though, that was his thing. When he was 12 he wrote his own book called The Misfits of Tyrone in the Devil's Kingdom. His grammar could’ve used some work but his stories were truly unique.

He and his sister Mabel, who apparently is a costume designer, live in the same apartment together.His sister's room was just as messy as his, but instead of over lapped pieces of fabric and sequins everywhere, it was books, comics and scrapped paper from that piled from his days as an intern

"Oh come on Dipper, these stationery look so pretty!" his sister added, "Besides, you write a lot so you can have this!"

Dipper sighed and grabbed the stationary and placed it in his bag. "I'll be back by 8 pm and this time I'll make the dinner myself."

He remembered last night when their kitchen almost burned down because of Mabel's  _ special  _ casserole.

His sister laughed teary-eyed, "Okay okay, it was my fault but it was a breathtaking experience."

_ Well breathtaking enough to literally take our breaths away,  _ he thought to himself.

Mabel twirled around with the fabrics she held as she said, "So, your first job is coming quite nicely." She looked at his brother packing his stuff into his brown sling bag, "Also your tie looks a bit crooked." She approaches him wearing a tucked white long sleeve polo, some dark brown sharkskin bootleg pants, his old leather formal shoes and a black neck tie.

"Mabel, that's too tight." he insisted as Mabel pulled the knot closer.

"Ties are supposed to be tight. That's why they're called 'neckties' for a reason. It's a tie for the neck."

He was hesitant about the fact that he was going to go to his first day of his dream job with a strangling feeling on his neck. He glanced at his mirror and fixed his tie.  _ No more messing around Mason. Later, it will be the moment you're always waiting for- _

"Dipper, have you heard? Pacifica Northwest is secretly under a secret project. It's everywhere in the tabloids,!" Mabel exclaimed as she saw her brother stocking up piles of his stuff into his box.

"Mabel, have you learned nothing about tabloids? They’re fake news! Do you really believe in that?." he replied

"I'm just saying bro-bro, besides there are a lot of rumors that turned out to be true in Hollywood I mean the ICONIC Marilyn Monroe got murdered by JFK."

"Listen, Mabel — that wasn't proven yet okay. Just. Stop. Reading those tabloids. Got that?"He strapped on his bag and made his way to the door. "Besides, who's gonna get the blonde bitch for a film. She was only good as a child actress, what can she possibly do? A 'cry on screen because I'm a pretty blonde actress' scene?"

"Don't let karma get the best of you bro bro, You never know. Maybe she's gonna be in your head forever."

He started towards her sister as he replied, "First of all, I don't like her as a woman, Second, I don't like her as an actress and lastly, working with her will never happen because last week I had the fortune teller lady read my fortune

"And what did that lady tell you?"

"She told me that everything that I wanted will go out as planned and what will happen in the 'everything' will change my life."

Dipper stopped to imagine himself writing a sci-fi, thriller-horror film with well known actors, working in big and equipped movie studios and walking up onstage and grabbing an Budgeriger Academy Award for Best Feature Film

"Dipper."

"Just a moment, I'm thinking about something."

"Dipper."

"Thank you to the Academy and to the people behind this marvelous event-."

"Dipper! you need to go, it's almost 8:30!"

He snaps back to reality and looks at his watch. It was 8:20 A.M.

"SHIT, I'M LATE. THE BOOKSTORE."

He runs and rushes toward the door, leaving it open.

"Good luck on your scriptwriting thing later!" Mabel waived her brother goodbye on the doorway.

He burst through the apartment door and pointed his gaze down the hallway of their apartment on the 11th floor. At the end of it, a sign that said “CLOSED FOR REPAIRS” hung on the elevator. He had no option but to take the stairs.

He took a deep breath and thought to himself once more.  _ This day definitely won't be a good day for me. _


	3. "Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys."

"HURRY UP WILL YOU?!"

Dipper heard someone shouting behind him as he rushed to cross Los Angeles traffic. The city was completely crowded in the daytime and even in the night, but this time he had a clear view of the streets. He walked past the bakery he and his sister used to get brunch from back in his internship days and saw street musicians playing jazz with their shiny and bright brass instruments.

He didn't really like the liveliness of the city, the music, the party, the social life. All he wanted to do in the city was to enter Hollywood and make "his kind" of movies. His sister on the other hand was the complete opposite. She would always bring someone in their apartment just for one of her costume design fitting nights.

"Dang it, why is the bus so late." He waited a long line impatiently at the bus stop and decided to grab his phone from his sling bag. He checked the time through his lock screen.

"Seriously, the bus hasn't been this late." He noticed that the bus was supposed to arrive 5 minutes ago and he's 15 minutes late for his job. He had no choice but to open his Twitter and scroll through his news feed for the latest news.

Former child actress and one of the leads in of _Take Me On A Date_ , Pacifica "Elise" Northwest Under A Secret Movie Project?

He took a peak at the tweet, clicked the link and there it said:

_Pacifica "Elise" Northwest, former child star actress who played as Madeline McGilmore in the movie 'Don't Hurt Me Mr. No Face Man' and currently playing as Kelsey Howens, a side character in the Netflix show 'Take Me On A Date', was rumored to be signed on an unknown project. It'sRumors speculated that she'll be playing the romantic interest of the main character in the movie, Birds Trapped 2: On the Barbwire._

"Of course, the pretty, blonde, rich, spoiled lady role trope," he mumbled to himself., "Where do they get this information from? None of this is even official."

"HEY BUD. MOVE IT WILL YA."

Dipper stopped looking at his phone and realized that the bus driver was waiting for him to enter the bus, a number of people waiting in line behind him.

"Oh, sorry."

He stepped in and decided to take one of the passenger seats in front of him. As people were piling up inside the bus and the bus door closes, a ruckus started to occur which caught his attention off across his seat.

"Sorry grandma, but this seat is for my child, excuse me!"

 _Wow, a Karen...early in the morning._ He thought to himself

The old lady moved away from the mother and her child, confused on where to take a seat for the entire ride.

"Here, you can have mine." Dipper called. He stood up and offered his seat to the old lady.

The old lady went to take his seat and she replied, "Thank you, young man."

"No no, the pleasure's all mine."

As the bus started to move, the old lady noticed that as he was holding the handrail on the bus his polo was almost drenched with sweat, he grabbed something from her bag and offered her fan to him, which Dipper hesitantly denied.

"No no, you can have it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides, the warm breeze can cool off my polo."

As the bus rushed within the city, Dipper took a moment to appreciate the view looking out on the window, at everything from the little shops to the iconic ascending highway of the city.

"So, where are you headed, young man?" the old lady asked.

"Bailey's bookstore. I work there."

"Why with the polo and the leather shoes?"

"Oh, I got accepted to be in a crew under a movie production. I'm having my first meeting with them after my shift."

"I see, a career on the big screen."

The bus went into a subtle stop.

"Bailey's Boulevard. Does anyone wanna get off?"

Dipper let go of the handle and said farewell, "Well, that's my stop." The old lady replied, "Have a good day young man."

 _Hopefully,_ he thought as he got up from his seat.

The bus stop was in front at Sally's Cinnamon Bun Bakery & Cafe. He stepped out of the bus, inhaled the warm breeze and took a little walk around the corner. He rounded the block and arrived at Bailey's Bookstore after some distance.

The din of wind chimes played as Dipper, who was exhausted, entered the building, "Sir McHallen. Sorry, I got kind of gotten late."

Joe Mchallen, his manager, coming out from his office. From Dipper's view, the 70 year old man certainly looked the part.

"Don't worry, Mason. It's all good."

Dipper looked around. _No customers, as usual._ He makes his way to the back he to put his bag in the storage room. As he finished, Mr. Mchallen offered him a glass of iced lemonade. "Take your polo off and I'll hang it near the fan for you."

The cool breeze of the fan was able to dry the newly washed polo. Dipper, wearing only a white shirt, sat on the counter drinking the lemonade Mr. McHallen gave him. "Nothing like the unusual heat in L.A., R right sir?"

"Indeed. We live in California after all. It's surely not surprising." the old man replied as he looked at shelved books.

"If I am correct the scriptwriting position that you signed up for will be later this afternoon, am I correct?"

Dipper gave him a smile of relief, "Yeah." He looked outside the glass displaying window as he nervously continued, "My big break is finally here... later. Like. 5pm."

The old man gave him a pat on the back, "I can tell you can make a spark in many ways Mason Pines." He went back inside his office while Dipper sat on the cash register waiting for people to come in; so far the building was just only the two of them.

As time passed and Dipper grew bored, he found himself going through bookshelves, running his finger along the Thriller section to find something to read.

"Let's see here..."

He found books that he already read and novels with dusty covers as he started going through a wall of written tales.

"Journey of Mr. Indiana, The Black Reputation, The Adventures of Ducktective, The Lady- what is this book doing here?"

Dipper grabbed the book and took a look at it. The book cover was sturdy enough to last at least a few years. On the cover it said: The Lady With The Blonde Hair by Richard Peters. On the cover was a figure of a lady in the mirror.

"Oh, an absolute classic."

Dipper couldn't stop himself from jolting when he saw Mr. Hallen near him. He was beside him, staring the entire time. "Sir, you scared me."

"That novel is pretty interesting Mason, you should read it sometime."

The brunette scoffed, "I already wrote an essay about this book back in high school. The story isn't that special., It's just your plain, ordinary, 'real life of a female in the city' kind of story."

Mr. Hallen continued, "Not just ordinary but life changing. I read that book "I don't understand what you're trying to tell me."

"Have you been in love, Mason? "

Those words caught Dipper off guard for some reason "Well, I did like someone back in high school. She was the captain of the cheerleading team-."

The old man chuckled, "No my boy, Infatuation is different from Love. That's what the book is basically about."

Dipper rolled his eyes and gave the old man a sincere smile, "What do _you_ know about love Mr. Hallen?"

"Love works in mischievous ways Mason, don't let it fool you for denying it."

Time passed and a few people rented or bought something in the book store, but Dipper already read five novels behind the cash register and he was just about to finish a sixth one

"What was that ending.?"

He felt dumbstruck after reading the last page of the novel he just read. He pinched and massaged the space between his eyebrows just to ease himself.

"Mason, it's almost 4:30. Wrap it up."

"It's just 4:30 Sir. I can leave at→"

"Mason, you have a big opportunity in the palm of your hands. If I were you, I'd make my first impression my best."

The old man gave him his polo. It was dry, ironed and looked good as new for some reason. "Thanks Sir," Dipper said.

"Don't thank me yet. Thank me when you got your big break."

Dipper depended on Mr. McHallen's generosity. He wasn't able to easily find a job because of the career he chose but the old man offered him one in the bookstore. When his sister was so short on money from taking short term classes in fashion history, Mr. McHallen gave her some of his insurance just to finish her short term classes on time. Mabel was able to sell some of her handmade crafts through his old friends, but Mr. McHallen's help did most of the work. Whenever Dipper looked at Mr. McHallen, he reminded him of both of his grunkles back in Gravity Falls. It's been a while that Dipper and Mabel visited their grunkles in a retirement home in Oregon now that they were occupied with their ambitions in LA. Surely, Dipper plans to meet his grunkles once he and sister have settled well within the city.

He was back in the storage room, putting his polo on, straightening his tie in front of the old mirror in that room and grabbing his bag before as he approached the bookstore's exit. the bookstore

"I'll be leaving now Mr. McHallen."

"Hold on. Before you go hear some wise words."

As Dipper paused at almost opening the entrance door of the bookstore the old man gave him his words of advice:,

"Remember Mason, a jack in the box without its bounce is just a jack in the box without colors."

Dipper smiled as he waved and stepped through the door. He glanced at Mr. McHallen from the store's display window, walking in between the columns of the old shelves and took a good long look before he left.

He arrived at the bus stop and grabbed his phone from his bag. He noticed a lady had just arrived standing next to him wearing huge black shades, a beige knee length trench coat and an expensive straw sun hat with a black ribbon that hadhas a line of textHe squinted as he struggled to read it from a distance. _L'amour du soir._

"Evening Love? Is it just me or does something smell like Gucci money here,." he mumbles to himself while he starts to scroll through his phone.

"Hey, I can hear you talking." the lady replied, "So what if I do wear Gucci stuff?."

"I'm just trying to compliment you. Are you offended that I called you out wearing something that expensive in a weather like this."

"Excuse me?!"

He stopped going through his phone and looked at her, smiling sarcastically "I'm actually surprised that people like you actually KNOW how to listen."

The lady looked at him with pure disgust. As she crossed her arms and faced the opposite way, the bus arrived.

Dipper was about to step in the bus but he noticed that the lady wasn't going in,

"Are you sure you don't need a lift?"

"I'm waiting for someone here." She places her hand on her hat to block the bright sun.

He mischievously replied, "So you're gonna wait for your fancy coach then?"

"Okay! That's it. Just to let you know, that I'm Pacifica "Elise" Northwest and I-"

Dipper was speechless. Not just because he actually saw a celebrity just roaming around in the city alone. Out of all the celebrities he had to come across for the first it would be someone he really dislikes.

 _And I thought this day couldn't get anything worse,._ He thought to himself.

Confidently he replied,

"I'll take that as a 'no', thank you very much."

As he was about to step in the bus, Pacifica held Dipper's sleeve tightly,

"Please, I don't want people staring at me."

He felt like the people around them were staring at both of them. They were. He saw that a guy almost took a photo of her, but as he noticed Dipper's eyes on him, he tucked his phone away. He always wanted to be the center of attention but only for what he achieved at something, not by being a part of some bizarre commotion. He took a deep breath and he replied with an annoyed tone, "Fine."

Dipper went inside the bus tagging Pacifica along with him. She went to the driver and asked him, "Close the doors."

The bus driver replied, "This isn't some special service you can just→"

She brought out a wad of cash in front of him and said, "Wanna take it?"

The driver took the cash happily and immediately closes the bus door, leaving Dipper and Pacifica being the only passengers inside the bus.

As the bus was travelling through the city, Dipper sat on the far side while Pacifica was on the opposite. Sitting across each other, they gave each other a glance and they quickly looked away to avoid eye contact.

Pacifica asked him as she brushed the dust off her coat, "So where are you heading?"

"Off to the first meeting of my new job. You?"

She snickered, "Really, am I going to tell you where I'm heading? Are you part of the paparazzi that's been stalking me around lately?"

"What? If I were, I would be telling my manager where you are right now. Which I CLEARLY didn't."

"Well, it's none of your business." She looked at the bus window.

 _What's her deal?,_ Dipper thought to himself. _She's the one who got into that mess. She could've just not roam around the city or brought her bodyguard with her._

She took out her phone from her lavender purse inside of her trench coat and made a call.

Dipper can't hear anything she was saying so instead he looked out of the window and ignored her conversation.

"Driver, take me to Beverly Boulevard, the one with the law center," she asked the bus driver.

"Or so you're gonna sue me for insulting you?"

Dipper noticed that she seemed stressed over something, which seems pretty odd for an actress with such recognition and praise in the public eye.

The bus traveled for a while. It didn't even make a stop but clearly it wasn't as relaxing as Dipper would've thought., After what happened earlier, he wanted to take a little nap into which he clearly avoided that idea.

"This is my stop," Pacifica called out to the driver.

The bus stop jolted Dipper wide awake. He turned his head to his window to see that there was a shiny Red and white vintage Duesenberg vehicle that was parked behind the bus.

She started walking out of the bus. Dipper didn't want to say his goodbyes. He sees her outside having a conversation with a man in a fine suit. It gave him the idea that he was her bodyguard but he didn't think much of it. She went in the vehicle with a grudge on her face and the man in the suit closed the door for her. She went to the driver seat as they were on the go. While Dipper watched her drive off ahead of the bus, he asked the bus driver. "Shouldn't we go? I mean she's the only person who dropped off-"

The bus driver replied, "She was the one who actually paid me for service so it doesn't go the same thing for you."

"But I have somewhere to go to-"

"Do you have something higher than hers then?"

"No.-"

"Then that's a no."

Dipper waited for quite some time. Several minutes passed as passengers started filling up the bus. Normally, he knows how to be patient but he was looking so forward to his first meeting that it bothered him constantly every time he checked the time on his phone.

As the bus stopped and drove through the city for a while, people leave and board at their own pace. Dipper wasn't having any of it until→

"Silverscreen Picture Studios! Anyone wanna drop off?" the bus driver called.

Dipper woke up immediately, got up and ran out of the bus. He ran across the street without considering the number of cars rushing through. He almost got hit but he dodged it just in time. He ran up to the entrance and he saw a guard who had just woken up that asked him "Your ID bud."

Dipper took out his driver's license and gave it to the guard. The guard check his ID, gave it back to him, and let him in. He ran to the main building and went straight up to the reception desk, hands on his knees, gasping for air.

"May I help you?" The reception lady asked

he replied, "I'm... here... for... Mr... Brentley Beasley's... appointment..."

"What's your appointment number with Mr. Beasley?"

"0...3...dash....0.2...5...1...9...3."

"Okay let me repeat that for any correction, it is 03-025193. Is that correct.?"

"...yes."

While Dipper tried to breathe, he heard the reception lady typing in her computer.

"Your ID please." The reception lady asked him again.

He gave her his driver license and there the lady types in his name on the computer, scrolls down to a document that lists all the meetings on that day.

"There, all done." The lady prints out a small sheet of paper that said and gave it to him. "Go down the hall to the right, there at the end you'll have to turn to the left. There's 2 elevators that are designated only for floors with rooms that conduct all the meetings in this building. Go to the 2nd floor and you're gonna want to make a left. Straight ahead you'll see doors that are labeled from 2FD-2FL. You'll have to make another left. Your room,2FM, should be there."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Dipper suddenly heard a lady scream from the outside, but he didn't stop to think who it was or where it came from.

The receptionist continued, "You'll be good to go, have a good day."

Dipper thought to himself, _Well isn't that ironic._

He took a look at the clock and it was 4:55. He immediately proceeded to make a run to the hall on his right and then a left. At the end of the hall he saw the elevator. He made a run for it and realizes that it's closing because a bunch of people are already inside. He ran faster and reached out his hand to the gap in the elevator doors, reopening them as the sensors detected it in time. Dipper squeezed in the crowd as the elevator closed. The elevator went up slowly. He was nervous because he had a feeling he might be a minute late. He tried to ask the man beside him but the elevator opened. People rushed out of the elevator leaving him last. He ran to the left and he saw a line of doors that were labeled 2FD-2FL. He ran through the halls and made a turn to another left and there it was. Room 2FM.Dipper stood in front and quickly caught his breath. _Don't screw this up,_ he thought to himself _._

Once he opened the door, he noticed the one person that was in the huge room. There was a big table in the middle surrounded by a number of chairs and Mr. Beasley, ahead of him, rummaging through his papers.

"Mr. Beasley, sorry I'm late"

Brently Beasley was a well known director. He didn't really win Academy Awards but his films were known to be one of its kind. Out of all the interviews he inquired in LA, only Brently Beasley accepted him right away after he read Dipper's portfolio.

"Oh, Good afternoon Mason, you're right on time. You see here's the thing. There might be some changes to your role."

"What do you mean?" Dipper closes the door behind him. "Isn't it my job to write for your upcoming movie?"

Mr. Beasley sits on a chair and he continued, "Well that's why she's here."


	4. "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."

"Madam, wake up. You have an important meeting to attend to."

She slowly opened her eyes and looked to her right seeing her old nanny, Emily Sanders, opening the curtains to let the light into her bedroom. She sat on her beige and dark peach colored blanket with a number of pillows surrounding her on a vintage four post king sized bed. She rubbed her eyes and asked him, "What time is it?"

"It's 7 in the morning madam."

She went out of her bed, grabbed her phone from her brown vintage vanity and walked drowsily towards her bathroom.

She stared at the mirror with a load of drowsiness under her eyes and she thought to herself., _Pacifica, it's just gonna be another day._

She took her clothes off to take a bath to freshen herself for the pressure that she's been going through all her life.

After her bath she wore her bathrobe, went to her bathroom mirror, took off her curls, brushed and poofed her hair out to look bouncy as what she likes.

She went out of her bathroom and she found out her nanny fixed the bed for her.

Pacifica's nanny was with her since she was little. Life being a celebrity ain't easy. With so many callbacks, interviews and pressure from the public eye, she never had to do anything for herself once. She was so used to reading and memorizing her lines, going on late night shows to the point of not knowing how to braid her hair until now. Her nanny was always there for her, no matter how hard the situation was.

"Pacifica darling, your breakfast is ready!"

She went downstairs to the dining area where a plate of two sunny side eggs, two strips of sugar fried bacon and a perfectly toasted slice of white bread was waiting for her.

"Thanks nana." She sat down at the table and started to eat her breakfast.

Her nanny was reading the newspaper while standing near the table, holding the papers near her face as she said, "Pacifica, darling. The rumors are out."

Pacifica stopped eating for a second and she grabbed out her phone. She checked her news feed on Twitter.

_Former Child Actress and Star of Take Me On A Date, Pacifica "Elise" Northwest Under A Secret Movie Project?_

"These paparazzi people are nuts. Can I take a look at your newspaper nana? "

Her nana gave her the newspaper and she read the second highlight of that morning's newspaper and it said:

Pacifica Northwest Makes Comeback After 17 years?

She gave gives the newspaper back to her nana, went to her phone and clicked the link to that post.,

_Pacifica "Elise" Northwest, former child star actress who played Madeline McGilmore in the movie 'Don't Hurt Me Mr. No Face Man' and currently plays as Kelsey Howens in the Netflix series, 'Take Me On A Date', was rumored to play as someone on an unknown project. Rumors speculated that she'll be playing as the romantic interest of the main character in the movie, Birds Trapped 2: On the Barbwire._

"Good thing the info they have isn't right. Even the slightest." Pacifica replied.

She continued chowing down her breakfast as she scrolled through her phone.

"Pacifica dear, your chaperone will be arriving at any moment by now." her nana told her.

"Nana, why can't I just take the bus. I'll just wear a disguise."

"Madam, you know how much the paparazzi is making stories about you and your career. It's better to be safe than sorry. And besides, your complexion might go red when you spend too much time walking under the sun. You know how hot the days are here in LA."

As her nana grabs her empty plate to the sink, Pacifica asks her, "Did mom and dad call you earlier this morning?"

"No, I'm afraid I haven't gotten any calls today madam."

Pacifica wanted to make sure that the calls between her and her parents are constant day to day. It was one of her top priorities. She doesn't like missing one of her priorities because of some dumb reason. If there's that one thing she already learned her entire life, she's definitely not gonna slack off when it comes to some things that involve her parents.

She got up from her table, along with her phone and went back upstairs.

She went back in the bathroom to pamper herself up. She brushed her teeth, flossed it, whitened it, and gargled minty mouthwash.

She moved on to her make up routine. Right after she washed her face and patted a soft towel on it, she grabbed all of the make up accessories that she uses day to day from her drawer. She applied her liquid foundation to match the tone of her skin, then applied her purple eyeshadow from her palette. After that she placed mascara on her eyelashes and some eyeliner on her eyelids perfectly, brushed highlighter with some blush for her cheekbones, and lastly she applied her mauve lipstick to compliment her skin tone.

She moved next to her closet; her closet wasn't just some ordinary women's closet, it was enormous. She had a whole room designated for it showcasing her clothes, shoes, hats, bags, anything a young woman like her would've wished for.

As she was looking from the clothes rack, she thought of something to wear,

Should we go all out or just keep it simple but bold?

She really wanted to make a statement for that interview so she would at least have a good impression.

This doesn't look too bad

She grabbed a black shade of Aubergine turtleneck short sleeve mini dress and to her right she grabbed her beige knee length trench coat. For her shoes she's going to wear her favorite white 3.5 inch ankle flared heeled boots.

She placed her clothes on her bed with the shoes on the floor and before she was going out of her room, she went to her vanity and grabbed a pair of her small gold hoop earrings to wear it for the day. It was her favorite piece of jewelry.

She left the room and started going downstairs to peacefully sit in the lounge in the living room.

"Did you do the thing that the director asked you to do?" her nana asked her.

Pacifica suddenly realized that she forgot about what they talked about from their meeting last week:

"Ms. Northwest, the movie is going to be about this novel..." Mr. Beasley said that to her as a reminder.

She suddenly goes back to her bedroom, slams the room and hurriedly changed to her clothes on the bed.

Her nana approached her room, knocked for her permission from the outside. "Pacifica, dear why such a rush? It's still 8 am in the morning. Your meeting is still at 5 in the afternoon."

Pacifica just finished wearing her other boot there and she covered her hair with her purple bandana, wrapped her hair in a low bun

and grabbed her purse on her desk that she used from a party she attended last night. Then she goes out of her door and runs downstairs. From the window she saw her vintage duesenberg coach waiting for her outside. As she was about to go out of the house, her nana asked her, "Why are you leaving so early?"

Pacifica hesitantly replied, "Oh um... my friends are waiting for me in Sally's Bakery."

She really loved her nana, but she couldn't trust her too much since her nana always reports to her parents about her daily activities.

"Okay, I'll let them know. Take care-"

"No nana, I'll be the one to let them know." Pacifica insisted.

Her nana nodded as she was about to go out of the door.

She took a step outside, she closed her eyes and breathed in the fresh air in the neighborhood. She goes down to the porch's staircase lightly and struts her way to her car. The man in the suit asked her from the driver's seat, "I'm just going to park here Ms. Northwest. We are not leaving 'til 4:30."

Pacifica took the shades off of her purse and wore them. "I'll explain it to my parents where I'm heading to."

The man in the suit got out of the car and assisted her with the car door. Once she got in he closed it and got back to his driver's seat.

The driver asked, "Where are we heading to?"

"Google, what bookstore in LA has the cheapest price for secondhand books? " Pacifica asked on her phone.

The phone showed only 3 results but the one that caught her attention the most was Bailey's Bookstore which had a book sale 50% off.

"Take me to Bailey's Bookstore." she asked the driver.

The driver started his engine and held the clutch and they were on their way.

As the car's GPS was talking to point out directions, she rested her head against the car's window and looked outside without letting her head be shown. She loved to go around places but her career is stopping her from doing it. Being a celebrity ain't easy, people's attention will always be looking out for her mistakes. The way she dresses, the way she speaks, the way she smells it's all going to be judged by the public eye.

Along the drive, Pacifica really wanted to lower her window screen so she can feel the warm breeze, settling through the air. Instead she asked her driver, "Can you turn up the air conditioning?"

The driver did what she said. "The heat in this city is really something else huh," he remarked.

As Pacifica was about to reply, her phone rang. She picked her phone up and leaned it to her ear.

"Hello Darling! Did you do your task from the director last week?" Her mom, Priscilla Northwest was on her phone.

Priscilla always wanted her daughter to rise to the top, after Pacifica's was recognized by her pretty face in Hollywood. Her mom could see her career on the big screen, she made her daughter play as Madeleine in Don't Hurt Me Mr. No Face Man. There both of Pacifica's parents really pushed her for the spotlight.

Pacifica replied, "Hi mother... I did... do it... "

"That's strange... why am I hearing car noises over there..."

"Mom, I'm just going to see my friends in Sally's Bakery in South Spring Street."

"Your nanny didn't tell us that."

"Mom, I need to ease out for a while. Besides, my face is getting wrinkly from all the stress that I've been into lately."

"Fine, but don't roam around alone in the city."

"Don't worry mom, I got it."

Her mother continued, "Darling, we've made changes around the script Mr. Beasley's been writing lately."

Pacifica was so used to her parents supervising her scripts whenever she would get a role under a movie company, it's a part of her contract.

"What changes do you want to revise in the script?"

"Pacifica, your lines here don't sound like a bombshell. To me, it sounds like you're just a regular person. Is that how the lady in that novel portrays your role?"

Pacifica can't answer her question because clearly she hasn't read the novel. Luckily, her driver cut the conversation short, "Madam, we are here."

"Sorry mom, gotta go bye."

"Pacifica wait-."

She ended the call and she proceeded to get out of the vehicle on her own.

The driver rolled his window down and asked her, "What time should I pick you up?"

"I'll call you when the time is right."

The driver gave her a suspicious look in his eyes and she insisted, "Fine, but just the blame is going to be on me when they find out about this."

The driver replied, "That sounds good to me." He rolled back his window up and proceeded to go ahead, leaving Pacifica on South Spring Street all on her own. She turned to face Bailey's Bookstore

She went into the building and saw huge shelves filled with stacks of books. She walks to one of the columns to start looking for the novel she's looking for, looking shelf after shelf.

"May, I help you madam?" An old man approaches her right.

She startled almost tripping herself to the floor but thankfully she balanced herself. "Um, Hi. I heard that the store is having a book sale?"

The old man replied, "Why yes, we are having a book sale $5 off until next week. What book are you looking for?"

"It's uh something something blonde hair? The Lady with the Blonde Hair. Yeah that's the one."

"I see, The Lady with the Blonde Hair by Richard Peters. An absolute classic. Let me guess, are you in a quest to find true love, young lady?"

She was unsettled for a second as she replied, "Um no... It's something that has to do with my job- I'm writing an essay about it."

Whenever someone asked her about who or what she does for a living, it's a basic rule that you shouldn't reveal a peck of your identity if you work for the big screen.

The old man replied, "I see you're into literature. Well we have a copy of one here on one of the shelves. I'll get it for you."

As the old man starts to walk away, she starts to walk around between the shelves. She started thinking about her life if she wasn't a celebrity. Probably, she'd be aiming to study for psychology or fashion designing. There, she comes across a book about fashion designing for beginners. She opens and reads it, flips it page by page and she thinks to herself, _Dang I wish I'd go to fashion school._

"Here you go, madam." The old man startled her again out of nowhere.

"Oh, thank you." She grabbed the book from his hand and takes a good look at the cover,

_The Lady with The Blonde Hair by Richard Peters, a lady in the mirror as a book cover huh._

"You want to buy it?"

Pacifica had second thoughts about buying the book. Her parents might see it and realize that she didn't do Mr. Beasley's request last week. She asked the old man for a favor. "Do you mind if you'd reserve this for me?"

The old man raises his eyebrow asking her nicely, "Don't you want to buy it or rent it at least."

"Sir, It's just...I don't want to-."

"It's okay. I'll reserve it for you until you come back next week.," the old man suddenly told her.

She went stunned as if the old man read her mind at the last second.

"You can call me Mr. Joe. by the way, no need to pressure yourself."

She could already tell from his words that he was a person who she can trust. It may be stupid for Pacifica to trust a stranger but after meeting Mr. Joe, she felt it was okay to be herself.

"I'm... Pacifica, Pacifica Elise Northwest.," she replied without hesitation.

"Oh, I know you... you're Madeleine from the Don't Hurt Me Mr. No Face Man. I love that movie, I watched that with my niece back then."

As they were walking through the columns of shelves, Mr. Joe added, "Don't worry I won't tell anyone you're here. Not even when the paparazzi men try to offer me money."

Pacifica broke out with a warm smile on her face.

Mr. Joe continued, "Just place it on the shelf over there."

There was a shelf with an empty slot alongside with books: Journey of Mr. Indiana, The Black Reputation, and The Adventures of Ducktective.

"Are you sure? It doesn't seem like it's supposed to be along with those books," she asked him.

Mr. Joe breaks out a small laugh. "Hahaha, Don't worry. I have someone in the house who always fixes the book sections in this place. He's supposed to be here any time by now."

She placed the book, filling the empty slot on that shelf and at that she bid farewell. "Well, it was great meeting you Mr. Joe."

"Leaving already? Well then, I wish you the best of luck. Until, next time.," the old man replied before he went inside his office.

She leaves the store without the novel in her hand and thought to herself, _Maybe it's better I tell Mr. Beasley that I didn't do what he asked me to do._

She asked her phone again, "Google, where is the nearest expensive shopping centre?"

It showed the result of Oakwood Square which was almost 12 miles away.

She wanted to do something she hasn't done before, riding a public transit.

She looked for the nearest public transit on her phone and it said that it was just around the corner. She decides to take a step and shop her heart out before she's busted.

She decided to travel by train. It wasn't the best ride but it was something Pacifica wanted for a very long time ever since she was young. She would always pay attention to a scene where a woman rides a train in a movie; it gave her a sense of relief.

She went for a walk to the corner. She saw people begging for money, people playing lively upbeat music, and people who are on the way to their jobs. She crossed the road, ran a flight of stairs and there she arrived at the South Central Train Station.

It was her first time riding a train, so she made sure that her bandana on her hair was able to hide most of her blonde hair to avoid any attention. She entered the train station and approached the guard by the entrance.

"Uh hi, can you guide me to a train that leads to Oakwood Square? It's my first time riding here."

The guard laughed at her, "HAHAHAHA, lady, if you're trying to flirt with me just to give you a free ride. Trust me gorgeous, I'm not gonna let you have a free pass but I would love to accept your number," he said before he whistled flirtatiously.

Pacifica was stunned. She went mad and stomped her foot on the guard's, careful to make it look as if it was an accident.

"OW! Excuse me?!" the guard exclaimed.

"Oops. Sorry, the tiles in this station can get too slippery. I'd love to talk to the manager of this station and give them my feedback for their service,." she sneakily insisted.

The guard knew if she went to the manager he could get fired for flirting while he's at his shift., He grunted, "Fine. Come with me."

Pacifica tagged along with the guard and went to an area with 2 different entrances. One was a card swap bar entrance and the other one was a booth. Behind those entrances was the waiting area for the train.

The guard continued. "Listen, here we have 2 systems on how to get a ticket. It's either you have to swipe your transit card or you have to pay in that booth over there. In cash."

As the guard walked away, Pacifica thought really seriously about it, but she quickly realized something. _Dang it, I don't have a transit card. If I buy one that means my mom's gonna ask where I got this card from_ _at some point_ _._

Shedecided to pay up in thebooth and went there since no one was lining up.

The man behind the booth asked wearily, "Good day, Where will you be heading?"

"Oakwood Square in... " Pacifica never knew where the train stop was located in Oakwood Square.

"St. Clara's Boulevard," he said. "That will be $10, ma'am."

Pacifica grabs $10 from her wallet and pays it to the man.

"Okay man, that will be all, have a good day."

Pacifica goes into the entrance gate just in time for the train. There were not a lot of people in that station but they were going in the train at a fast pace. She went in and sat by the seat that was near the exit, resting her head against her seat.

As the train door closed, the engine started running. Across her seat, she had the view of the entire city up above.

 _It's gorgeous up here_ , she thought. No one was blocking Pacifica so she had the view all to herself.

The train went through the city and so far it was one of the best experiences that Pacifica ever had. The fact that she never planned to go to a train was the cherry on the top.

As the train stopped for its arrival, she wished she would never leave her seat but she had to since she's already in St. Clara's Boulevard.

She went off the train and made her walk to the exit of the station and before her eyes was Oakwood Square.

She walked past a row of palm trees leading to a fountain in the middle of the square.

She thought to herself, _Okay, let's get this guilt free window shopping on the running._

__

She hopped through store by store. From designer bags to high branded shoes, it was a shopaholic's dream. Pacifica, however, wasn't liking anything she saw so far. She tried to fit a $10k mint dress mini corset tulle dress by Lirika Matoshi but it didn't really amazed her that much. She continued hopping from store to store, finding anything she can grab her hands on.

Until she saw a brown straw sun hat with a ribbon that has a text that says "L'amour De Soir."

Pacifica whispered under her breath, "Evening Love."

She entered the Gucci store, and as soon as she steps into the building she asked the saleslady, "Hi, can I try the straw hat that is displayed by the window?"

The saleslady replied, "Sure. I'll go get it for you."

She waited patiently near the counter and in a moment the lady arrived next to her with the straw hat. She went to the nearest mirror on her right and tries it on. "How much is this?"

"We're actually having a sale today, It's 20% off," the saleslady answered

Pacifica didn't really mind spending money but when she sees something that she likes that's on sale, it's her biggest weakness.

"I'll take it." Pacifica insisted in monotone.

The saleslady takes the hat from her, places it on the counter and the lady behind the counter takes it and scans the price tag.

"Well, it's a 20% off discount. So that'll be... $600.00," the lady said.

Pacifica confidently grabbed her gold Mirror prestige credit card and gave it to the lady behind the counter.

"Ma'am, please enter your pin here," the lady asked.

Pacifica received a pin taking device. She pressed the numbers on the buttons and clicked the enter button.

The receipt printing machine beside the lady started to print 2 receipts. She placed them inside of a leather folder case, gave it to Pacifica and asked, "Ms. Northwest, we would like you to sign here."

The saleslady suddenly asked, "Pacifica Northwest? THE PACIFICA NORTHWEST?!"

Pacifica grabbed a pen from the counter, opened the leather case, signed the 2 receipts and replied, "Sssh, keep it down. I don't want to grab anyone's attention."

"Can I get your autograph?! I'm Tasha by the way, I love 'Take Me On A Date' on Netflix!" The saleslady asked enthusiastically as she hands out a piece of paper from the counter.

Pacifica laughed and continued, "Fine, I'll sign it for you." She signs the paper with her signature and gives it back to the saleslady, "Here you go."

"Geez Tasha, Have some decency, She's a celebrity. Get your act together.," the lady behind the counter said as Pacifica got her credit card back.

At that moment, Pacifica felt uneasy about what's going on in the shop. She forgot the fact that she's an actress and that people will always be around her asking for her attention or they'll criticize her actions.

She insisted to the lady at the counter and smiled, "No it's fine. She didn't do anything bad."

"I'm so sorry, Tasha's a sucker for celebrities. She always talks about what it's like being in Hollywood."

Pacifica thought to herself, _Well it's not a freedom zone that's for sure._

"Oh, don't put that in the bag please," Pacifica told the lady at the counter as she was about to put the hat in a Gucci labeled paper bag.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah... I'd like to wear it."

The lady gives her the straw hat and by the time Pacifica received it, she went back to the mirror and tried it on once more. Lastly, she tied the black ribbon under her chin and said, "Yeah, that'll do. Thank you."

As Pacifica was about to walk out of the shop with her new hat on, she gave the two ladies goodbyes. "I'll be on my way then." The ladies waved her goodbye. When she stepped out of the door she can hear the ladies talking.

"Did you hear the rumor? She's under another movie. I'm so excited!"

"Tasha, It's Pacifica. Trust me, she did this because of her name."

Pacifica heard the ladies talking about her, she thought to herself, _At the end of the day, people know how to talk._

She spent another few moments walking around the square, walking through every shop, bakery and store without buying anything. She even witnessed an art display in the public square. She saw paintings of different flowers and grabbed her phone to try to take a photo but she remembered that before she entered the display, there was a sign that said NO PHOTO ZONE.

All of a sudden, her phone rang.

She picked it up and answered the phone, "Hello?"

"I'll be picking you up now, where are you?" her driver asked.

Pacifica panicked because she noticed that she wasn't in South Spring St. She was in Oakwood Square, which was something she never planned in the first place.

She went back, rushing back to the train station. She arrived in the train station and by the booth there were a number of people in line. She had to wait in line for her turn and until she got her turn She paid for her ticket and went to the waiting station for the train to arrive.

 _Well, guess it's back to reality._ She thought to herself.

She sat in one of the waiting benches, opened her phone and checked the time. It was 3:40 pm. She was relieved that it wasn't near 5:00 pm so it didn't really bother her.

Few minutes passed and the train arrived. There were only a few passengers getting on board, so when she got on the train she found a spot where there weren't any people around so she could enjoy the city's view.

The train starts its engine and once again, Pacifica enjoyed the marvelous view once more before she goes back to her reality.

The train arrived at its destination on South Spring St. Pacifica got off the train and walked outside. She checked her phone once again and she discovered that she missed 10 calls from her driver. Just as she checked her phone, her driver called her again and she answered, "I'm here."

"Where are you? Mrs. Northwest is trying to ask me where you are."

Pacifica answered, "I got this, besides I told you that the blame is on me so don't freak out. I'm used to it. I'm just here somewhere in South Spring Street."

Pacifica then ended the call and proceeded to walk around that block. On that block, she saw a bus stop and thought to herself,

_Maybe he'll see me over there._

She went to the bus stop and there she was standing next to a young brown haired man. She wasn't comfortable about it but she had no choice but to wait there where it was easy for the driver to spot her.

"Evening Love? Is it just me or does something smell like Gucci money here," he mumbled to himself while he started to scroll through his phone.

Pacifica was surprised that a stranger just insulted her boldly for the first time in her entire life.

"Hey, I can hear you talking.," she replied, "So what if I do wear Gucci stuff."

"I'm just trying to compliment you. Are you or is it because you're offended that I called you out wearing something that expensive in a weather like this?"

"Excuse me?!"

She started rubbing the end of the ribbon that was on her hat, regretting wearing it in public.

"I'm actually surprised that people like you actually KNOW how to listen," the young man continued.

She looked at him with pure disgust. As she crossed her arms and faced the opposite way, the bus arrived.

"Are you sure you don't need a lift?" he asked her

The young man was about to go in the bus and she replied, "I'm waiting for someone here." She places her hand on her hat to block the bright sun.

He mischievously replied, "So you're gonna wait for your fancy coach then?"

She had enough of the madness on that day; the train guard, the ladies in the store. She just bought her hat and now this guy just insulted her out of nowhere. She exclaimed, "Okay! that's it. Just to let you know that I'm Pacifica "Elise" Northwest and I-"

Pacifica realized what she did at that moment. She said her name, she said it out loud, and she said it in public. She looked around and saw a number of people looking at her. She had enough of the people who were looking at her on that day, the pressure was getting the most of her. All of the eyes that were looking at her that very moment made her feel like she was about to break down.

"I'll take that as a 'no', thank you very much,." he replied.

As he was about to step in the bus, Pacifica held his sleeve tightly.

"Please, I don't want people staring at me."

It was bizarre of her to ask a stranger for help. She was always taught that she needs to call for the people who she worked with or her parents for help but at that moment, she had no other choice.

"Fine," he replied.

Pacifica tagged along with the young man into the bus. She went to the driver and asked him, "Close the doors."

The bus driver replied, "This isn't some special service you can just-"

She brought out a wad of cash in front of him and said, "Wanna take it?"

The driver took the cash happily and immediately closed the bus door, leaving the young man and Pacifica being the only passengers inside the bus. She thought to herself, _Well there goes my emergency money._

As the bus was travelling through the city, he sat on the far side while Pacifica was on the opposite. Sitting across each other, they gave each other a glance and they quickly looked away to avoid eye contact.

Pacifica asked him as she brushed the dust off her coat, "So where are you heading?"

"Off to the first meeting of my new job. You?"

She snickered, "Really, am I going to tell you where I'm heading? Are you part of the paparazzi that's been stalking me around lately?"

"What? If I were, I would be telling my manager where you are right now. Which I CLEARLY didn't."

She thinks he has a point, after all he helped her even though he had a choice not to.

"Well, it's none of your business." She looked at the bus window.

She took at her phone from her lavender purse inside of her trench coat and she made a call.

Her driver didn't pick it up so she dropped a voice message, "Hi, I'm in a bus right now and I don't know where this leads to. I'll turn my GPS tracker on and so you'll know where I am. I'll be somewhere on Beverly Boulevard."

She turned her tracker on and tucks her phone away.

"Driver, take me to Beverly Boulevard, the one with the law center."

"Or so you're gonna sue me for insulting you?-" he added

She didn't mind anything the young man said to her at least, what she's really worried about is how she's going to tell this to her parents; that she's been roaming around the city alone and that she didn't tell them that she didn't take a glimpse of the novel that her director asked her to do.

The bus traveled for a while, easing Pacifica's mind. The cars going by, the people on the streets gave her peace. What made her kind of happy at that moment was that she saw the young man almost drooling and trying not to fall asleep during the ride. It made her giggle. It's just what she needed.

She heard a honk at the back and looked. She saw her driver driving behind the bus. She told the bus driver, "This is my stop."

The bus stop jolted the young man wide awake, turning his head to his window to see what was outside.

She started walking out of the bus, wishing she could thank him but she thinks it much of a burden for her to thank him after he helped her even though she got the vibes that he doesn't want to give assistance for her.

She went down, out of the bus and saw her driver crossing his arms and tapping his foot with disappointment.

"Look, I just got into a tight situation and I kind of blew my cover.-"

"I'm not letting you go on your own again. I have to report this to Mrs. Northwest,." her driver replied.

"I know, let me just explain."

Her driver opened the door at the back and said, "Just... get in."

She grudgingly complied, she went inside the back of the car and her driver closed the door for her.

She looked back as they drove ahead of the bus.

"I know your life as a celebrity ain't easy. But the world out there is different from what you're in. I bet people are judging you by the way you dress."

In the back seat, Pacifica recalled the moment the young man called her out because she's flaunting about how rich she was.

The drive was long and stressful for Pacifica. She crossed her arms thinking about the aftermath of her meeting. Her parents would find out about what she did that day, lying to her nana, going to the city alone, and her task from her director.

Her driver glanced at her from his front mirror and he grew concerned. "How about I'll grab you some Boba tea? There's a Boba shop right over there."

She looked back at him and she was quite surprised.

"I'll take that as a yes.," her driver replied, "Let's drive to Ghing Chiu's Boba Shop. I heard their Boba pearls taste really good."

She grew a smile on her face and continued, "I'll have green tea, make it blended and add more cream to it."

Her driver smiled with ease and replied, "Roger that madam."

They parked in front of the shop. The driver went out of his car to take her order leaving Pacifica alone in the car. Pacifica took off her glasses, placed it on her side and napped for a while.

BANG.

She woke up with a sudden crash as if someone just got hit by their car.

"What happened?!" she asked her driver

"Ma'am, you're awake! Some twerp just ran on the road without looking both ways, luckily he didn't get hit."

The car enters through the main gate entrance of Silverscreen Picture Studios and parks through the entrance of the main building.

As she was about to go out of the vehicle, she was in utter disarray.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Ma'am, what happened?!" her driver asked

She discovered that the lenses of her black shades were cracked into pieces. She was about to burst into anger. Her driver reminded her to calm down. "There's a mini fridge at the back of my seat, there's a hidden compartment. You see it?"

She saw a mini drawer handle on the back of his seat and pulled it, saw her drink and grabbed it along with its straw. She placed the straw on her cup and drank it just to chill her temper.

She breathed in and calmed herself down. She asked her driver, "Can you clean-"

Her driver replied, "No worries, I'll clean that up for you."

She was about to get out of the car as her driver said, "Don't worry. I won't tell Mrs. Northwest about what happened today. Trust me, you've been through enough."

She smiled and replied, "Thanks."

She shut the door, the car drove away and Pacifica stepped in to enter the main building. She didn't need to go to the receptionist in front, she already knows where to go since it's the same room where she and Mr. Beasley had their previous meeting.

She took a look at the time on her phone and it said that it was still 4:56pm. She walked to the hall on her right, then made a left. At the end of the hall she saw a man who just squeezed himself into the elevator. She noticed the other elevator was empty, so she walked inside that one instead. As the elevator ran up, she noticed her drink was almost empty. The elevator opened, she got out of the elevator and tossed her cup into the nearest trash can. She walks to the left and she sees a line of doors that were labeled 2FD-2FL. She walked cautiously through the halls and made a turn to another left and there it was, room 2FM.

At the door, she stood there and thought to herself, _Don't screw this up._

She opens the door without hesitation.

"...she's here- Oh, Ms. Northwest so glad you could make it,." Mr. Beasley said.

She looked at the man that was in the same room as her. She knew that the brown hair reminded her of someone familiar.

He looked at her and she looked at him.

"Pacifica, meet Mason Pines. He'll be working with you for your script." 


	5. "As If!"

"Are you kidding me?" Dipper and Pacifica both said in unison.

"Okay let's discuss through the details shall we?" Mr. Beasley asked the two.

While all of them were sitting on their seats the room was tense between them, as if there was a raging war going on. It was empty and cold, Mr. Beasley didn't mind the tension between them two.

Mr Beasly obliviously asked with joy, "Now now, Why am I getting the sense you two knew each other."

"This is Pacifica we're working with Mr. Beasly, A Blonde Bombshell wanna be! She isn't even suited for the role she's going to play." Dipper slipped in pointing at her.

"Excuse me! You were the one who insulted me because I wore Gucci!" Pacifica said back to him

"Well, at least you didn't almost got hit by a car on the way here!" he replied

Pacifica suddenly remembered the moment their car jolted, causing her shades to be smashed into shards, she went furious.

She exclaimed as she pointed her fingers to him, "So you are the reason why my shades shattered to pieces!"

"What?!"

Mr. Beasly insisted, "Please, let's not get the hang of ourselves."

Dipper and Pacifica looked at him and both said in unison, "No!"

"I don't know why you're going to play as the main character in this movie but you give me a feeling that your gonna ditch at some point." he said

she replied to him "I can act professional too you know! I'm not just some pretty wannabe."

Mr. Beasly cut himself in, "Everyone,please. Let's talk this like well manner civilians"

Dipper and Pacifica weren't having any of it. They were both angry, both of their days went entirely wrong and they couldn't seem to see each other eye to eye.

"I mean look at you, you didn't even win an award for once because you're all about looks and even worse your recent role is just a second lead character."

"Let me guess here Mr. Mason Pines! I bet you're that person who has big dreams, who has ambitions, goals or whatever. You got what you've always wanted and you cant mess it up because you're afraid of looking at yourself in the mirror, admitting to yourself that you're an utter failure!"

With those words that came out of her mouth Dipper went speechless, it wasn't because what she said was true. He sensed that she already knows what it's like to be like him. Having big dreams and getting toppled over and over again and he left many life saving opportunities behind his back.

She lets out a sigh, "Mr. Beasly, let's get real here. I didn't read the novel you told me about last week. It's because... I forgot it." Pacifica added as she tried to get herself together.

Mr. Beasley exclaimed, "That's perfect! Which is why Mr. Mason is here with us today. To rewrite your lines!"

"Wait, WHAT?! I thought I was going to write the script?!"

"You are."

"But what's with the 'rewrite' that you just said a few seconds ago."

"Ms. Northwest's parents here are... not liking how I wrote the main character-"

"Wait what movie are we working here and lastly why didn't you tell me this sooner."

"My schedule's uptight here my boy, I've been contacting and meeting our producers from time to time for this movie. Since we've come to talk about what movie you'll be 'rewriting' about. It's ...

The Lady with the Blonde Hair...You know. That novel. By Richard Peters."

"Really."

"I read that book a few years back and I decided to make a film about it. Have you read about it Ms. Northwest?"

Both of them looked at Pacifica as she replied, "Didn't I tell you both that I haven't read the book. Right before I had to leave."

Mr. Beasley suddenly received a call and he answered his phone, "Hello? Oh yes..."

He stood up and walked around the room while talking to the person that's on his phone.

Dipper and Pacifica glanced at each other for a second and he said, "You had one job. And you just had to read that goddamn book-."

"Listen, if you're gonna talk to me like my parents for a second. Save it up when the rewriting starts, I don't want to stack a new insult with another one."

Dipper felt a little uneasy with what she said to him. He looked at her while she crossed her arms, staring at the corner with her face on a bit of tension.

"That's great. I'll meet you later, yes? ...Thank you very much." Mr. Beasley ended his call and goes back to his seat.

"Okay. Since the producer I just called is on a tight schedule and he'll be meeting me this entire week. I'll be trusting you Mr. Pines to get this script done." Mr. Beasley slammed a stack of the drafted scripts in front of Dipper.

"Here's the script and I'll be working forward to work with you Mr. Pines."

Dipper was appalled with the stacks of paper in front of him, _Seriously._

"Ahem." Pacifica cleared her throat.

"Ah yes, Ms. Northwest. It's okay. I've already expected that you haven't read it which is fine."

Pacifica showed a hint of disappointment across her face.

"But anyways I have some calls to answer to. Looking forward to meeting you both in rehearsals 3 months from now." Mr. Beasley shoves them both to go out of the room

"and Mason, I trust you on this script" Mr. Beasley placed both of his hands on Dipper's shoulders.

Pacifica asked, "I thought, we're going to discuss my part on this-."

"We did and he's gonna help you.I'll give you his contacts as soon as possible."

Dipper asked, "Wait. Mr Beasley what are the corrections for the script-."

"You do your magic and everything will be fine. Call me when the script is done." Mr Beasley slammed the door behind them.

Dipper and Pacifica stood there on the hallways alone, a few inches apart. There were no people to be seen around that phone which made the situation a little bit more unsettling.

"You're‌ ‌coming‌ ‌with‌ ‌me‌ ‌for‌ ‌a‌ ‌while."‌ ‌Pacifica‌ ‌walked‌ ‌ahead‌ ‌and‌ ‌Dipper‌ ‌tagged‌ ‌along‌ ‌with‌ ‌him.‌ ‌

‌

"What‌ ‌do‌ ‌you‌ ‌want‌ ‌from‌ ‌me‌ ‌now?"‌ ‌

‌

She‌ ‌dialed‌ ‌numbers‌ ‌through‌ ‌her‌ ‌phone‌ ‌and‌ ‌made‌ ‌a‌ ‌call.‌ ‌

‌

"Hi‌ ‌mom...‌ ‌It's‌ ‌me."‌ ‌

‌

"Oh‌ ‌hello‌ ‌darling,‌ ‌I‌ ‌assume‌ ‌the‌ ‌meeting‌ ‌between‌ ‌Mr.‌ ‌Beasley‌ ‌is‌ ‌done."‌ ‌

‌

"Yeah, he hired someone to rewrite my lines and now he's with me."

"Oh that's great. Honey! Mr. Beasley's new writer is with our daughter. Hold on darling, give your phone to the new guy and I will talk to him."

Pacifica gave the phone to Dipper and said, "My mother wants to talk to you."

Dipper grabbed her phone and placed it to his ear with his shoulder while carrying the stack of drafted scripts on his hands, "Hello ma'am, I'm Mason Pines and I'll be working with your daughter with her lines."

"Oh hello Mason, I'm Priscilla Northwest and I'll be looking forward to working with you and with my daughter."

"It's a pleasure. Now first off, anything you don't like about Mr. Beasley's writing? Anything at all? Because clearly he gave me a lot of touches to work on." he looked at the papers he's holding.

"All of it."

"What?"

"I said 'all of it', I don't want my daughter to play as an ordinary girl. That's totally the complete opposite of what she's portraying as."

"But that's all in the novel maam, do you have any details you wanted to specify."

"I don't know how writing for movies works, but please don't make my daughter look like a loser."

Pacifica placed her arm on her hips as she looked at Dipper having a conversation with her mom.

"Um ma'am, I don't think you're getting this right. I need to know what changes you want-"

"Hold that thought. What honey? Sure I'll be there. Just a second. I'll make this quick. Sorry Mason, I have a party to attend to please work accordingly with my daughter. Thank you and goodbye."

The call ended and Pacifica grabbed her phone from his shoulder, "So, You got what you need at least?"

"Are you not saying anything about this? You got anything to speak out of your head?-."

"Okay, I'm just going to say this ahead but whatever I'll say won't matter okay. My parents do it all for me and I have no right to partake on that. So do what you'll have to do because at the end my parents will check up on it." she said as she walked away

She proceeded to go into the elevator and pressed the buttons. The elevator closes and goes down leaving Dipper alone in the halls.

I need a box for this.

Dipper goes back to the room and he knocks on the door, "Mr. Beasley do you have a spare box I can put these papers in?"

Mr. Beasley opens the door, gives Dipper a box for his papers to put into and closes the door in front of him.

Great. Another reason why my room would be messier than usual.

As Dipper kneeled down to the floor and piled the papers into the box, he received a call from his phone. He picked up his phone from his bag and answered it.

"DIPPER!"

"Okay, Mabel you don't have to shout from the phone. I can hear you."

"I have a teensy weensy favor."

Dipper just wanted to go home because of the madness he had to face that day but he could never say no to his sister's errands."Okay, Make it quick."

"Can you pick up the stuff I reserved from the thrift store near our place? It's a pair of patchwork pants and a yellow crocheted cardigan with a sunflower patch I think-."

"Okay and can you pick up a book from Bailey's, it's called The Lady with the Blonde Hair."

"Okay, bro bro. Also can I make the dessert tonight? I saw this recipe online, I already bought the ingredients and I wanna make it right now-"

"Mabel! Please... Wait for me, till I get home."

"Got it. Bye!"

The call between him and his sister ended and there he carried his box and made his way into the elevator, he pressed the buttons and the door closed.

-

Pacifica closed the car door as soon as she got in and started to scroll through her phone.

Her driver asked as he started the engine, "Ms. Northwest. I'll be informing you that I'll be the one to fetch you for your magazine photoshoot this upcoming friday."

"Okay, thanks. I'll take note of it."

Pacifica watched from her window as the car exited the studio and made its way to the busy streets in the city.

"Ma'am, do you want anything for dinner?" Her driver asked as he was maneuvering behind the wheel.

"Oh, I'll just eat when I get home."

"Suit yourself."

She scrolled through her phone and suddenly he received a message from Mr. Beasley and it said about his new scriptwriters' phone number. She knew it wouldn't matter if she saved his phone number on her phone because her parents are the ones who are going to talk to him and not her. She forwarded the text to her mother to add it on her contacts.

As the car drove throughout the city, the sun was setting, the city lights lit up as well as the stars in the night sky. She looked outside her window watching everything she saw go by and slowly she drifted herself to sleep. She had enough of that day and she decided to take a nap once more.

"Ma'am we're here."

Pacifica woke up and out on her window she realized they already arrived at her house. She got up and got out of her car and she thanked her driver, "Thanks."

Her driver replied, "You can call me Devon and have a good night ma'am"

She watched the car as it drove away and gave a little wave to the driver.

She took off her hat and her shades and made her way through the door. Unexpectedly, her nanny opened the door and she asked, "How's the day my dear?"

Pacifica went inside and her nanny grabbed her coat for her as she replied, "It's great nana..."

"Dinner is already served on the table." Her nanny smiled at her and made her way to the kitchen.

Her nanny looked back at her and she saw her going upstairs, "Dear, aren't you going to eat dinner?"

Pacifica replied as she was on the staircase, "I just have to go to my room for a bit and I'll be down as soon as possible."

She goes upstairs, goes to her room and closes her door.

-

"Dipper! Will you help me with dinner- Oh."

Mabel went to his room and she saw her brother in his pajamas was stressed, sitting on his desk with his laptop along with the book that he asked her to bring from the bookstore and papers were all over the place, scattered on the floor. She picked a page up and as she tries to read it,

"I've been looking for that, Thanks Mabel." her brother grabbed the page from her and he returned to his desk.

"Dipper we need to make dinner, shouldn't you make the dinner?"

Dipper sighed from stress and pushed away from his desk and looked at his sister with a smile on his face, "Fine."

_I bet she's being spoon fed for since day one in hollywood huh._

Dipper served his fried fish cutlet special, but this time it's in a sandwich. He served his sister's dinner across the table and he sat down with his sandwich as well.

As he was about to grab his first bite,

"So, how's Silverscreen Studios working out for ya?" His sister asked.

He looked at her as she was chomping down the sandwich after asking him. He lets out a deep sigh, "Do you wanna know who I am writing for. Mabel?"

"Who is it."

"I'll have to make you guess."

"Any clue or hints?"

"Tabloid."

Mabel started to rub her chin, thinking in her little bubble.

"It's Pacifica. Pacifica Northwest?"

"Ooooh. What's the beef."

"We met on the bus stop at Sally's She was wearing this stupid hat-."

Mabel suddenly slammed both of her hands on the table, "YOU MET HER ON THE BUS STOP? IN PUBLIC? DID ONE OF HER CHAPERONE'S TRY TO CRUSH YOU?"

Dipper rolled his eyes as he continued, "I really don't want to talk about how we 'met'." he took a bite out of his sandwich.

"So how's meeting with her?" his sister asked

"Mabel, I just wanna 'rewrite' the script, get my money and forget all about this. I don't really wanna work with her, I just wanna get over it."

Mabel looked at her brother munching unsettlingly on his sandwich.

"Hey hey hey, look on the brightside. It's your first time writing for a movie. I know it's not a strong start but trust me. I don't think she's that bad."

'Mabel, you haven't even met her in person. She blamed me for crushing her 'precious' shades while I almost got hit by her car."

"I don't think you've told me about the car thing..."

They both sat in silence because it was awkward for his sister to hear that her brother almost died in a car crash by a celebrity.

"You remember what mom used to tell us when we were little?" His sister asked

He raised his eyebrow to his sister.

"Don't judge a book by it's cover, Dipper. We learned that when we met grunkle Ford and grunkle Stan? We used to mistake them the other way around and they fooled us, remember?"

Dipper remembered what Pacifica told him in the studio when she walked ahead .

"Okay, I'm just going to say this ahead but whatever I'll say won't matter okay. My parents do it all for me and I have no right to partake on that. So do what you'll have to do because at the end my parents will check up on it."

Dipper squinched his forehead saying to his sister, "Okay, you've got a point. But, I'm not taking back the fact she's some blonde wannabe."

They both looked at each other and he could see his sister smiling at him and there she said, "By the way, I have a job assisting someone for a photoshoot at the end of the week, around Friday I guess? It's not a lot of money but it's enough to pay our rent for this month."

"Mabel, I told you. You don't need to get a lot of jobs. You're managing your clothing business on your hands. It's hard to gamble-"

"A few hours of work won't tire me out. Besides, I don't have that many customers on the line and we need to pay our rent on time. Or else, we'll be kicked out."

He owed to his sister, their parents never approved of his film career and his sister's fashion career, but his sister supported him through thick and thin from their college days to the day they set foot in Los Angeles.

Mabel smiled at her brother and the both of them enjoyed their nice dinner on that very night.

-

Pacifica slammed her body on her comfy bed and she stared at the ceiling while wearing her matching pajamas. She raised her arms to the ceiling and checked on her nails if it was clean and spiffy. Then she sat on her bed and she looked around in her gorgeous bedroom and at that very moment, everything that was going on with her life flashed right before her life.

She shook her head and took her phone and scrolled through her feed, she looked at all of the posts her mutuals posted. Having parties and living with ease without any supervision, guidance, and pressure. She came across a post from the all famous and academy awarded actress, Diana Ridger, who played as the main female lead, Riley Duncan in Take Me On A Date.

In the picture, she was wearing a white beach dress while holding a glass of champagne by the beach. She took a vacation in Maldives since the show was still in hiatus, while her fellow co- actress was taking a vacation. There she was sitting on her bed scrolling through her phone at her home.

_She's living the life._

Suddenly her phone and and it was her mom,

"Hi mom."

"Hi darling, by the way. The number you just forwarded to me was the scriptwriter's number. Right?"

"Yea, it says in the message."

"Okay, I'm just making sure... It's been a while since you've got a main lead. After a decade has passed."

Pacifica was not having her mom talking about her childhood career all over again, so she decided to end the call instead.

"Okay mom, I've gotta go to bed. Gotta get rid of my eye bags."

"Pacifica were not done with this conversation-"

There she ended the call, tossed her phone away and took a deep breath. She stood from her bed, wrapped herself with her blanket and walked to her balcony out of her bedroom, she stood against the railings and looked at her swimming pool at the back of her mansion.

The night was quiet and peaceful and Pacifica enjoyed the view of the glistening waters of the pool. She could see the reflection of the night sky on the water which she finds relaxing to look at.

She remembered what his new scriptwriter asked her,

"Are you not saying anything about this? You got anything to speak out of your head?-."

She groaned at her railing and turned around to look at her bedroom from the outside once again, "I need to grab a drink."

She went back to her room and grabbed her hidden flask in the bottom of her mattress and went back to the balcony as she walked and chugged the whiskey in her flask to scour her thoughts away. She rested her arms on the railings with the flask resting on her hand.

She wasn't allowed nor permitted to drink alcohol in her entire life even if she's basically an adult now, but she finds a way to drink with the help of her 'friends' in her show business. She would sneak out whenever she had the chance, just like last night before she had a meeting on that day. Whenever she goes out at night, she should have fun but that didn't really meet her expectations, all she did was party and drink and that clearly was all it. It's not like she hates to go out and night and party but she wants to do something different this time, other than partying as her only escape goat.

She looked at the night sky and left there thinking as if she wanted to cry, but she was so used to her life now that crying doesn't work for her anymore. She buried her head on her arms and closed her eyes for a little. The whiskey was making her sleepy, she fought it because clearly she doesn't want to sleep yet.

She pushed herself up, carried her flask, went back to her room and shut her window doors closed

-

"Okay, that's .... All of it."

Dipper was in his room, on his laptop and next to it was the novel that was on his desk. However, the papers in his room were all stacked neatly on his hands and tucked away the papers that were irrelevant back in the box.

_I'll have to retype this and I'll send this to Mr. Beasley tomorrow._

He took the first page from the stack and as he started to type through his laptop with the corrections that he overwritten in that page. He felt that something was off, he knew this isn't how he writes a script.

There are three things he learned from film school, the first one: If it's an idea, make sure to take a note of it. The second one is to master the basics, the format, grammar and world building. Lastly, the one thing he really remembered is to write the story from scratch.

He keeps on typing just to get this done as much as possible. He just needs to get this done and he thought to himself, _It's gonna be fine. Besides, I might get another shot once this movie is done. It's not gonna be the last one I'll write._

There he heard a ring on his phone that was on his bed. He picked up the call and he answered, "Hello?"

"Hello, It's me Mrs. Northwest."

"Oh yes, hello ma'am."

He stopped typing and pushed his seat away from his desk, he stood up from his seat and started to walk around the room while handling the conversation with Mrs. Northwest on his phone, "How's your evening. Mrs. Northwest?"

"It is lovely, thank you very much. Anyways, is the script on progress?"

He looked at his desk and answered back, "I'm working on it, actually."

"That's sounds splendid, when will you be sending it to me?"

"What?"

"When will you send it to me, I've already forwarded my husband email to you on text-"

He caught himself in an awkward situation that he knows that it's not proper to do, "I don't think I should give it to you without the director's consent."

"Excuse me?"

"I have to show it to Mr. Beasley first before showing it to any person he has permission to discuss with the script."

"I have permission from the director which is why I made my daughter go to the meeting earlier to verify this."

"Still, I need to show 'my' draft first to Mr. Beasley."

They went silent for a while and he added, "For finalizations."

"Fine, I need the script asap. I don't want our daughter to look ridiculous."

"Of course ma'am."

"I expect it to exceed our expectations."

"Of course ma'am-" He said sarcastically.

There the call ended immediately without remarks it caught to his surprise. He looked at his phone, turned it off and threw it on his bed. He sat back on his chair and pushed himself towards his desk to resume himself typing on his laptop.

While he was typing, flipping through page by page in the middle of the night, he knew he wanted to take a break,

"Who wants Mabel's special midnight snack bowl?" his sister said just in time, he looked around and saw her sister carrying a bowl of her favorite night treats.

"Come in." his brother replied

His sister sat on his bed and he resumes typing and zooming in to the screen of his laptop with stress.

As her sister munched each time she grabbed something from her bowl, she asked, "How's it going?"

"Not great, I'm having second thoughts if I should write the script my way or I should just puzzle it from the stack of papers the director gave to me."

"It sounds like he's giving the burden to you rather than to let him face that."

"Mabel, we're talking about Mr. Beasley here. He might be like 'all over the place' but he knows what he's doing. Remember, Over The Meadows? that film we rented like 2 months ago?"

"The one with the plot twist where the main lead realized that he was caught in a loophole that he did do what he wished he didn't do which is killing his lover who was a part of his family's nemesis?"

"Mr. Beasley co-directed that movie and that movie had great reviews. But... "

"...but?"

"He is kind of known as a lunatic in the workplace...which is why he does things in his own way and it ended up pretty good."

"...and what seems to be bothering you?"

"It's just weird that Mr. Beasley just hired me right on the spot of my interview and right at my first meeting with him, he asked me to do his 'redo' of the script from this cliche 'legally blonde' novel bs. He wrote the movie we watched and turned out great. But why this? Why all of this?" He stretched his arms out to show out his desk.

"Maybe he sucks writing about female protagonist movies."

"I have a feeling that he's in it for the money, Hear this. I have to work for Pacifica Northwest and the crazy part is that her mother is asking me to send the draft of the script without the director's consent and they want it to exceed their expectations but anyways that's not important. But what's mind blowingly ridiculous about this is out of all the people why her on my first job. Like there are plenty of outstanding actors out there, why go for her? I"

"Should you really be asking me for that? Right in front of you is just your twin sister. Not someone else."

He buried his head in his arms on his desk. His sister patted his back with assurance and asked him, "Just tell me what's troubling you. Without the whole 'film knowledge' thing.Cuz I ain't a film major."

"Should I pass Mr. Beasley, the script that he wrote which I corrected and inserted the considerations or should I write it from scratch because I still have 3 months to work on this thing."

"I can't answer that."

"What."

"Both pretty sounds like a good option to me. I mean if you do option number one you can pass this and have 3 months off to continue your job at the bookstore and eventually you have to find jobs just to pay our rent for the next few months. If you do option number two, you have the chance to show off your amazing writing and you freely have the right to work next with the director because you wrote the script from scratch and you're not getting the impression that you're just some editor he just hired on t. So it's a win win."

"That... doesn't really help." He picked up a pretzel from her bowl and ate it.

"Okay, here's my take on this..."

Dipper looked at his sister as she continued,"Why do some birds fly?"

"Because ...they have ...wings?"

"Ergh. Wrong. I said 'some birds' not 'all birds.' it's the word playing here."

"What."

"Anyways, some birds weren't born to fly, they just jump around and flap their wings to their preference like penguins using their flappers to glide through the ice or male peacocks just displaying their feathers to attract female peacocks as well-."

"I don't understand what you're trying to tell me."

"Bro bro, Life can give you two choices. What did Shakespeare write something about this...I can't quite get it right... is it shall be or-."

"To be or not to be."

"Perfect. To be or not to be. Picture this, To be someone who plays it safe knowing you might get another shot or not to be someone who might get a once in a lifetime chance to do something out of the box."

He thought to himself on his seat with the words that her sister said to him. Should he be playing safe or to risk taking the other way around?

Her sister stood up and left the room saying on his doorstep, "forget the bird thing I just told you. It was just an icebreaker. Y'know to get unstressed."

"classic."

They both laughed a little and his sister left the room by closing his door.

Dipper sat on his desk, left there alone thinking to himself in the middle of the night.

_To be or not to be._


	6. "I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."

"Mabel, are you coming?"

It was friday morning, the weather was hot as usual and nothing much had changed.

"I'm coming Dipper!"

His sister ran down to the doorway and she found out her brother wasn't even near the door, "Dipper, I told you not to rush me if you're not near the doorway-."

"Which is why I need you to rush because between the both of us I would mostly wait for you to get done." Her brother left his bedroom. He wore his olive green jacket, a blue and white checkered tee, oak brown pants, and gray slip on shoes. He also brought his brown bag with him.

"I was fixing my hair, you know it's hard to manage curls." Her sister said as she went towards him and managed herself to wear her hair into a ponytail with her pink scrunchie. She wore a cream colored long sleeve blouse with a ribbon accent on her neckline, bright blue box pants, a pair of two inch black blocked heels, and her square shaped leather sling bag with a zipper.

Her brother reminded her, "Are you sure you can go there alone? Do you know the directions?"

"Pfft. Trust me, I got the directions on my phone. Besides, If I get lost I'll just find my way out of it. All I know is that I know my way at Bailey's so I'll be fine."

"That doesn't sound reassuring Mabel."

Both of them went out of their apartment room and Dipper closed and locked their door. They both walked together and their steps echoed through the walls of the hallways.

Dipper walked a little ahead than his sister, it was because his sister was too focused looking at her contact mirror while applying lip gloss, he said, "watch your step, you might trip over."

"Got it."

Mabel tucked her contact mirror and lip gloss back into her purse and caught up her pace walking beside her brother.

They went to the elevator, got inside and waited till they had arrived at the ground floor.

Both of them waited patiently until his sister said, "Are you sure about it?"

"About what?"

"We talked about that a few days ago."

"Of course."

"Do you think I'm that stupid?"

"Of course not."

"Mabel, I told you. If we're going to meet the ends about the rent of our apartment, I'm sure I've made the right decision."

His sister smiled back at him and he continued, "So where are you heading?"

"Gotta pick up the gown that my assistant manager assigned to me. I heard it's newly done and sparkly."

"This early?"

"You do know that photoshoots aren't just taking pictures right. It takes a long process to get a photo right."

The elevator door opened when it arrived on the ground floor. They stepped out of the elevator and proceeded to go out to the building.

As Mabel was about to head off the opposite direction from where her brother was heading, she asked, "Who's making dinner?"

His brother looked back pointed to her

"Tsk.Tsk.Tsk, Fair."

"Note taken. Got a shift at Bailey's."

Both of them waved each other goodbye and went in their separate ways. As his sister walked ahead on the other way, Dipper checked his phone and dialed the numbers on his phone. "Good Morning Mr. Beasley."

"Oh hello Mason, I heard you're ready to hand the script to me?"

"Yes, I sent the file to you. I brought the laptop with me, I have a spare file on my laptop. Are you free at any time today sir?"

"Why yes, only at lunch though."

He sighed with relief, "Can we meet at the cafe near the studio?"

"Bright Cocoa's. Sure, although you have to wait for a while."

"That's okay Mr. Beasley."

"That's settled well, see you at 12 Mr. Pines."

He ended the call and Dipper walked away from the apartment down to the road.

-

"Okay, I'll be right there."

Pacifica just ended her call with her manager for the photoshoot and she was wearing her long sleeved buttoned up shirt dress with a black corset, her hair down, her silver huge hoop earrings, along with her lavender purse. She was about to go into the car until her nanny rushed to her upfront to remind her, "Dear, your mom reminded you to eat little during the time for your photoshoot and go home straight away. Your parents are visiting you this evening"

"Yes nana, she reminded me." Pacifica replied nervously as she remembered it's been awhile since her mother called, the last time she called her she cut her mother's lecture which was caused by a task she failed to do, which was just to read a book.

She got into the back of the car that Devon drove her in a few days ago. She shut the doors closed, the driver started the engine and they headed off on the road.

She looked out on her window and saw children going into a school bus.

"They're from Lexington Kindergarten, it's a few blocks away from here. You wanna see it?" her driver, Devon asked her as he handled the wheel.

"No, no. It's fine."

She had second thoughts visiting other places in the city and she was about grabbing through her phone, but had enough of scrolling through her timeline for a day.

Maybe I should take a nap.

As the car drove by through the city, she settled well in her slumber. Until,

"Ma'am, We've already arrived at the venue." her driver said.

She woke up from her short nap, she looked out the window and she saw the photoshoot venue outside. She stepped out of the car and stepped into the building. The building was big, bright, and hollow and there were a number of staff inside, a pink backdrop at the center of the room along with the photoshoot equipment.

The manager approached, "Ms. Northwest, You've arrived a little early." He shaked hands with Pacifica once she saw her glancing inside the building.

"It's a pleasure to meet you..."

"Call me Mr. Johnson, Harold Johnson."

Alongside with him, he introduced his assistant manager, "Mrs. Northwest this is Myrthle Williams and she's my assistant manager."

She shaked the lady's hand, "Hello"

"Hello Mrs. Northwest. If you could please follow me to your private room."

Pacifica walked along with her into a little hall that leads to the dressing room. She walked into the room and it had a light up vanity, a folding chair with it and a little decent couch against the wall.

Myrthle asked, "Can you wait here for a while? My stylist and makeup artist is here but my temp is supposed to be here to manage the dress. She's supposed to be here any moment now...It might take a while-."

"It's okay I can wait."

The assistant went out of the room as soon as she heard her say those words.

Pacifica was alone in the room and she rested on the couch.

"I'm here with the dress!"

She heard someone yelling from the hallway. She stood up and approached the door. Then someone with brown hair in a ponytail just sprinted in,

"Ms. Williams! I have the dress! Oh. Sorry."

Pacifica was startled about the commotion, then the brown haired girl looked at her awkwardly and closed the door all of a sudden.

She said to herself, _She looks kind of familiar..._

She went back to sit on the couch once more and waited for a while.

-

"Where's that section... There you go."

Dipper placed the last book on the shelf which was from the cart. He was on his shift in the bookstore, returning borrowed books to their proper sections.

"Mason. Can I chat with you for a second?"

Mr. McHallen was walking towards him between the shelves. He wore his old navy blue sweater, brown slack pants and usual formal shoes.

"Sure sir."

Dipper left the cart in its own place and went up to Mr. McHallen, "Got any errands for me?"

"Your sister borrowed a book from me somewhere within this week."

Dipper thought for a while, a book?

"Oh my god- I'm so sorry. I'll return it tomorrow-"

"It's okay Mason, I really don't mind... "

"Wait- Are you sure?"

"I just reminded you to return it before next week, someone was planning to buy it so I reserved it."

"For who?"

"That's my business to deal with Mason which is fine for me but now you deal with yours... how's your new job."

"If I would be honest, it's just quick but messy. I just had to retype a movie script, because according to some people, it wasn't up to their standards."

"Sounds intriguing indeed. I supposed those 'people' are bugging your nerves."

"Yep. It's a pain in the ass really. Once Mr. Beasley approves it and the other party disagrees, I'm just going to quit it. There are plenty of fish in the sea."

Dipper grabbed the cart and went back to the main counter, Mr. McHallen followed along with him.

Mr. McHallen went back inside his office and right when Dipper placed the cart beside the counter, his phone rang

He picked up the call and placed it next to his ear.

"Dipper! Dipper! Dipper!"

It was her sister on the line.

"Mabel, I said no shouting... "

"Okay okay okay sorry, you wanna know who I met on set?"

"Who? "

She imitates her brother's voice, "She's just some blonde wannabe."

"Her?!"

"I know right?! Isn't it a small world?!"

Dipper facepalmed and continued, "Mabel, I don't need to hear this right now-. Don't mention something about me."

"Got it...Oops I have to end the call here, my manager is calling me. I'll call you soon. Bye-"

His sister ended the call so he shrugged his shoulders off and tucked his phone back to his jacket.

He checked the clock near the counter, it was 9:30 am. He sat back on the chair that was located in the main counter and looked out on the windows as people walked by.

-

"You look so beautiful, Ms. Northwest."

Pacifica stared at the mirror on the vanity, she was in a white dress robe, her hair was in a halfway updo which you can see the diamond shaped gold earrings hanging from both of her ears and her golden chain choker on her neck, "Thanks."

In that room she had two stylists and a make up artist preparing her for the magazine photoshoot.

One of her stylists said, "I know, you have the perfect looks, that healthy hair, the perfect body. You're literally a showstopper."

Myrthle went inside the room and looked at her, "Dang, our stylist did awesome. You look gorgeous Ms. Northwest. Like I told you girls, she's born to look and live like this."

She thought to herself as she stroked back a strand of hair on her face, Think again.

Someone barged in the room, "The lights for the photoshoot are done setting up Myrthle!"

Pacifica saw the brown haired girl approaching her and shook her hand, "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Hi, I'm Mabel-"

"Mabel can you call the manager that she's all set up and also know your place please, you can't just jump in like that." Myrthle asked her

Pacifica was uncomfortable with the way Mabel looks. It was not because of her vibrant personality, clearly she swore she met someone that looked familiar as her.

"C'mon, lighten up a little and I'll roger that. I'll be right back." Mabel rushes out of the room.

Myrthle apologized as she faces to Pacifica, "Sorry Ms. Northwest, our new temp can be a bit frisky-"

"It's okay", she straightened her robe sleeve and asked, "... So where's the overall ensemble?"

One of her stylists brought the dress on its hanger and showed it to her. It was a blush pink organza corset top mermaid gown with hints of sparkle. Along with that hanger, it comes with white fluffy faux fur shawl, a pair of matching pink gloves and she also brought her a pair of 3 inch white platform heels.

Pacifica lit up her eyes as she replied, "I love the dress."

One of her stylists replied, "I know, this dress clearly goes well with your luxurious blonde hair and your gorgeous white glowing skin."

Myrthle said to Pacifica, "Okay let's get you dressed up."

-

"Sir, I'll be heading out for lunch."

"Be back around 1 pm Mason."

Dipper stepped out of the bookstore with the laptop in his bag and walked towards the bus stop. There weren't any people in line and the bus hadn't arrived yet. He stood there waiting alone and he recalled the time where he met Pacifica. He laughed mischievously a little, remembering from the moment he insulted her hat to the moment she held his sleeve right before he stepped foot in the bus.

He snapped back to reality once he heard and saw that the bus arrived, he hopped in with a number of people already on board, took his seat and the bus drove off to the city. He looked out on the window as cars and buildings passed by.

At quite some time, he already arrived in Silverscreen studios although after another block ahead, there was Bright Cocoa Cafe. He made a stop at the studio and he dropped off, he walked for another block and he arrived in the cafe.

The cafe had a small dining area from the inside which was jam packed but there were no people eating in the outdoor area.

He went inside and started to order something from the counter. He looked at the glass case displaying different refined bread and pastries.

"May I help with you sir?" The man behind the main counter asked him as soon as he stepped in front of him.

"I'll have a blueberry muffin." Dipper replied as he pointed out the pastry behind the glass and he looked at the menu board that was hanging up from the ceiling and continued, "and I'll have a small americano."

The main behind the counter punched the buttons on his computer and said, "That'll be $46.75."

Dipper took out his wallet from his bag and opened it to see he has a 20 dollar bill and a 50 dollar bill inside.

"Make that two blueberry muffins, one small americano and an espresso please. Oh, place in with some napkins.." Someone said from his back

He turned around and looked at the person behind him,"Mr. Beasley, your early-"

"That will be $98.50."

Mr. Beasley took out a 100 dollar bill from his wallet and paid it to the man behind the counter to which he got his change and his receipt. Mr. Beasley gave the receipt to him, "Have it. As a souvenir."

Dipper took it and placed in his pocket.

The man placed a tray on the counter, placing everything that Mr. Beasley ordered on it and slid it to him and said, "Here you go. Have a great day."

"Mason would you carry that for me?" Mr. Beasley asked as he walked ahead, "Let's sit on the outside area. I love to see the cars go by. Let's have our little discussion shall we?" He opened the door and walked outside and there Dipper smiled as he followed him as he was carrying the tray.

-

"These shots are great, I'm impressed."

Pacifica heard her manager and the photographer talking in front of her while she was waiting on the stool she was sitting during her pictorial. As they were having a conversation, she looked around the room while the staff glanced at her for a second while they were doing their work.

She stood up from her stool and she asked the manager, "Can we have a break?"

Her manager, Mr Johnson replied, "Of course." He clapped both of her hands to grab everyone's attention in the room, "Everyone, let's have an hour break. Good job people."

Pacifica stood up and walked her way to her private room, she took off her heels and gave both of her feet a rub because of the strain of pain that was on her heel for posing while wearing a pair of three inches heels for hours. It felt like hell to her.

Someone knocked at her door and barged in a little.

"Would you like a salad or a sandwich Ms. Northwest?"

Mabel was peeking from the door with two meals on her hands, she was carrying a Styrofoam packaged container, a square shaped wrapped item and 2 bottles of water in a cardboard tray.

As Pacifica wore back her heels in a sudden, she replied, "I'll take a salad."

Mabel laughed and continued, "Nah, A sandwich will be fine. Here catch."

Mabel tossed the sandwich to her to which Pacifica caught it with her both hands.

"Nice catch." She stepped into the room without thinking and she sat beside her on the couch with the tray beside her.

"I don't think you're supposed to just pop in the room like that."

"Don't worry, I told them I'll be keeping an eye on you. While they're having lunch."

Both of them start to eat their meals, Mabel reminded her, "That's a BLT sandwich by the way."

As Pacifica took the wrapper off, she was doubting if she needed to eat the whole sandwich.

"I know that look." Mabel said with a roguish smile on her face.

"Why are you looking at me like that."

"Don't worry, I'm not a tattletale."

She started to devour her sandwich. Each bite was satisfying as if no one was watching her in the room.

Mabel gave her a bottle of water from her tray and Pacifica drank it right away.

"How's the photoshoot?" Mabel asked

Pacifica gained posture and snobbed, "Well, it was easy. Like it had been always."

"Of course."

"Are you... judging me?"

"Of course not."

Pacifica groaned and continued to munch on her sandwich.

While they sat on the couch and ate their meals,

"Okay everyone let's resume within 15 mins."

Someone called outside of the room. Pacifica cleaned her space and wore her shoes back to her feet. Mabel took her mess and as she was about to head outside, she reminded her

"Good luck."

She closes the door leaving Pacifica all alone in the room. She sat there, overwhelmed while staring at her heels.

-

"That's it."

"Well Mason, I'm quite impressed."

Mr. Beasley zoomed into the screen and looked at the laptop, he and Dipper where they were sitting on one of the little tables outside the café on a sunny afternoon.

"I do have one problem here."

Dipper looked at him as he was confused.

"You got your chance." Mr. Beasley continued.

Dipper answered his question, "I did. I just did what you did-"

"How about what you can do."

"What can I do?"

Dipper sipped his coffee and Mr. Beasley gave him that look.

He swallowed the drink on his throat, "Mr. Beasley... you're insane."

"Yes, I am."

"I can't write this all from scratch, all from my perspective?"

"Why not give it a try."

"You know that would take for months to get that finished."

"Mason, I've read your transcripts

Mr. Beastly slid the laptop across the table towards him, "The staff and the script reading will be from 3 months from now."

"But-"

"I've read your transcripts from your interview."

Dipper wasn't surprised at first because he knew that during his interview, he brought his transcript of a script he wrote during his internship which was required. What caught him by surprised that Mr. Beasley actually read it.

"The way you narrate the story with a simple context in your transcript which such descriptiveness and imagery made me want to hire you and to be part of my team. I'd like to see your full potential since I've given you a chance at this very moment."

He thought to himself turned his laptop off and just as he was about to push the screen down, _Think again_.

"Thanks Sir, I've already done with what you want but with that offer, I'd like to make that a pass. I'm not working with that Northwest."

"Mason, this a chance for you to grow although the odds beside you may have not been in your favor. You still get to shoot your chance."

While Mr. Beasley takes a sip of his coffee, Dipper was looking at the reflection in the laptop screen. Mr. Beasley continued,

"So, should I call Ms. Northwest that this should be final?"

-

"And that's a wrap, people. Thank you Ms. Northwest."

The staff in the photoshoot applauded themselves, then to Pacifica as she stood up from her stool which was in the middle of the photoshoot area. The staff started to gather in groups, it made Pacifica to be on her own. She went back to the dressing room following a couple of people behind her which was Mr. Johnson and Ms. Williams

"Ms. Northwest, are you going with us to the after gathering event this evening?" the manager asked.

Pacifica turned her back at them and replied, "Sure, although I might be later since I'm going to be occupied with something this evening."

"Oh... I see. Feel free to drop by late in the evening."

The manager and his assistant walked away as Pacifica made her way to walk to the hall towards her room.

Mabel was in the corner of the room, she picked up her phone and dialed her brother's number on the screen. Her phone rang and her brother picked it up.

"Dipper! You would believe who was the model who was in our photoshoot!"

"Mabel, I don't have time for this. I'm going home late, I have to go somewhere. I asked Mr. Beasley for the address of-"

"Pacifica Elise Northwest!"

"What."

"Pacifica is in our photoshoot Dipper! She's so gorgeous in person! I talked to her earlier in her dressing room during lunch and she-."

As the both of them went silent for a second, the assistant manager whistled and waved her hand at Mabel trying to grab her attention.

"Dipper, I've gotta go. I got some clean up to do-"

"Where are you?"

Mabel cut the call off.

-

Dipper rushed as he turned to another corner of the street. He looked through his phone to see the location that his sister sent him through text. There was no name for this place but only a picture of a white big concrete wall building with no window, so he had to get the location right.

"C'mon c'mon."

He bumped across person by person as he ran down the pathway beside the street, looking at his phone constantly.

He rushed as he spotted a bus a distance away and got on it before it was about to drive off. He got on the bus and looked around but all the seats were occupied, so he stood up and held the bus handle instead.

As he stood while the bus was travelling through the city, he got an unexpected call from his sister and answered the call.

"Dipper, you got the address I sent you?"

"I got it. Mabel are you sure- Hello?"

He noticed his sister wasn't replying and he asked her again, "Hello? Mabel?"

"Oh sorry, my boss just told me that my pay will be given to me late-"

He noticed his sister cut off the conversation again leaving him on the line. Until,

"Dipper! You've got to hurry. She's leaving some time now! She's done talking to some of the people here and now she's walking towards the dressing room at this very moment."

"Can you tell her to wait for a while and that I'm coming?"

"Shouldn't you settle this in a private matter? I mean. Isn't this supposed to be a confidential matter? If I told you it was you who was waiting for you. A lot of people might spill the tea"

The bus stopped and its doors as Dipper thought to himself that he's already closer to where the photoshoot venue was, he answered his sister, "Just try not to let her leave. I'll already close."

Dipper ended the call as he stepped his foot off the bus and walked away.

-

Pacifica sat on her chair in her room as she was taking her jewelry off to wear usual ones.

"Ms. Northwest!"

She looked back as she was about to put her golden hoops on her other ear. Mabel was panting as she rests against the doorway.

"Please don't leave yet."

As Pacifica placed her other hoop on her other ear, she replied undoubtedly "My... ride isn't here yet and what are you talking about."

While she stood up from her seat and went to the dressing curtain. Mabel peeked out of the doorway to see if the coast was clear on. She closed it to make sure that she wasn't doing anything suspicious. Not to her at least.

"Ms. Northwest wanna hear my collection line for this summer?"

Pacifica was changing behind the curtain, replying "I'm not interested."

"C'mon, I make sweaters for a living."

Pacifica opened the curtain and she stepped out and she was still wearing what on the photoshoot, "I don't want business with you. Also, aren't you not supposed to be here. This is my spa-"

"I see you're into corsets. A retro black mesh underbreast corset with six boning steel frames...Am I correct?" Mabel pointed at the corset that was hanging inside of her dressing curtain.

Pacifica looked at her corset that was and was startled, "Wait. How did you know?"

"Like I said, I own a small clothing business. I make clothes for a living. Are you interested?"

-

Dipper was catching his breath and he had already arrived in front of the building. Right in front of his eyes, he spotted the entrance door and at that second he realized that it would be suspicious if he had just walked in a place he wasn't associated with. He went to a hidden corner and took out his phone again to call his sister.

"C'mon pick up pick up."

Mabel noticed her phone was ringing while having a conversation with Pacifica, "Hold on for a moment can I pick this up?"

"Sure, I don't mind."

She answered the call and lent the phone to her ear as she was covering her mouth to whisper through the mic, "Dipper, are you okay? where are you-"

"Is she with you? "

"Of course, we're having a good time here-"

"How do I get in?"

"Use the front door dummy."

Dipper facepalmed and sighed, " I told you I wasn't supposed to get caught, remember?"

"Hold on, go around at the back. You'll see a yellow door there. Wait for me."

His sister ended the call and he made his way to the back of the building. As he found the yellow door, he was waiting while he rested his back against the wall and stared to the ground.

The yellow door opened, "There you are." Mabel whispered, "I want you to be quiet because you're not supposed to be here."

She lets her brother in and they were both inside the storage room. They went out of that room and walked past an empty hall. Suddenly someone called, "Mabel! Your pay is up at front!"

"Sorry Dipper, I gotta go. It could be troubling if they found me I'm back here."

"But which room is she in?"

His sister rushed away leaving him left behind.

He started walking slowly as he was sneaking from wall to wall so that no one could see him. Dodging every person he almost encountered until,

"What are you doing here."

He looked around his back and he saw a huge man, angrily looking at him.

"He's with me."

He looked towards his other side and it was Pacifica.

"I'm sorry Ms. I thought he was trespassing here."

She glared at Dipper intensely, "I thought he would text me that he was going here." and she continued, "Now if you excuse me, I'm taking him with me. If you tell this to anyone I will sue you"

She grabbed his hand as they both walk away from the man who appeared nervous by her words

As she dragged him out of his situation earlier, she told him "Don't talk until I say so."

They suddenly heard someone coming near down at the hall they were at. She grabbed his arm and they both went inside her dressing room.

As soon as Dipper got into the middle of the room, Pacifica locked the door so that no one could get in and he asked him, "Why were you out there? aren't you supposed to be supervised?"

"I was looking for Mabel. It was weird she suddenly disappeared without telling me why."

"My sister? she got me in here but she was called by someone-"

Pacifica paused and she groaned as she realized, "Of course, you two are twins. That makes sense."

"I don't have much time" Dipper cuts himself in.

"Let's just cut to the chase."

They said both in unison as they were looking at each other, stood there silent for a few seconds until Pacifica coughed, "So why are you here?"

Dipper sighed, "Look, Mr. Beasley offered to let me rewrite the whole film."

"Okay that sounds concerning and also what happened with the drafts he gave to you a few days ago."

"He gave me a choice if I should write for a movie or not. Obviously, I chose that I would but-"

"but?"

"It's just you're in it and I'm not gonna lie I'm not impressed with what you have at your game right now."

"So what's the point, l ... I mean- My parents might have already told Mr. Beasley about finding another actor to replace me"

Dipper was stuttering as he was trying to find the right words to say although deep in his chest he knows it wasn't right.

"This is stupid, I'll just call Mr. Beasley."

As Pacifica walked to the couch and tried to grab her phone. He held her wrist before she could pick it up.

She startled, "What are you doin-"

"I want you to trust me on this."

She dropped her phone back on the couch, he let go of her hand gently and she rubbed her wrist to ease the pain, "and what do I

She looked at him and she knew he was being serious right in front of her eyes.

He continued, "Hear me out, although I don't like you or how you do your act. It's not easy to get into something I've been working on for years. I've been into every script writing hiring interviews nonstop ever since we stepped in this city and no one made me an offer until now and Mr. Beasley, himself is giving me the chance to write something for a film... from me. I don't wanna screw this up."

"And?"

"I wanna make this work."

She somehow got this feeling of sincerity from him just by standing a few inches away from him, he continued "I promise... I'll hear you out. I'm willing to give you a chance."

She gave him a grudgingly look and scoffed.

"Okay okay, I'll be nicer to you." He assured her, "And not to insult you."

She stood there as her mind flashes her meeting him from the bus stop reappeared again. She can picture the way he looked at her when she needed to step inside the bus with the same sincerity that she felt as he grabbed her hand in the room where the both of them are in as of that moment.

She snapped back and she saw the same warm hopeful look on his face that she saw before, she continued and she rubbed her elbow "Listen, I can't promise you anything-"

He looked away with a feeling of betrayal on his face

"But, I'll be happy to help."

He looked back at her and he saw a warm smile that he hasn't seen her with before.

Dipper knew how Pacifica's acting skills were like, the smiling, the sobbing, the anger and alike but he knew that the smile he saw on her face felt different than the ones he saw on television.

She lend out her hand to him

He confusingly asked, "What?"

"It's a truce."

Dipper looked back at him with a grin on his face, lent his hand out to her and the both of them shook their hands.

"Female protagonists aren't going to be really my thing so I'll be apologizing in advance if I made Mrs. Northwest upset."

She chuckled, "Don't worry, leave that nagging to me and you'll be fine."

They let go both of their hands with a smile across their faces.

"Thank you."

She hesitantly asked, "What for? I'm already a part of the car before I met you-"

"It's just... I have wanted this for a very long time now and I don't wanna screw up big time and by that means to work with an actress who I haven't found their acting impressive to me just to cooperate with me to make this work is just... a big step for me to process."

"Don't worry, I won't try to be much of a burden to you." She replied sarcastically

"Very professional."

"Also, forget the thing you said about insulting me. Next time, I'd like to hear something better."

"What's the catch."

"Nothing, I just wanted to spice up the way I respond to things for once in a while."

Someone knocked on the door which made them terrified, Pacifica walked towards the door while Dipper hid behind the dressing curtain. Hiding behind the curtain, his cheeks reddened as he glimpsed Pacifica's clothes hanging from a hanger, including her brassiere.

Pacifica asked while she was leaning behind the door, "Who is it?"

"It's just me. You have to open quickly." Mabel replied.

Pacifica opened the door and shut it quickly when Mabel got inside. Mabel asked her, "Is he here-"

"Why did you ditch me just like that." Dipper exclaimed.

"You would believe how much I got." His sister opened the envelope, "We have more money to pay for our rent for the next 3 months."

Pacifica looked at the twins realizing to herself that they actually do hard work to earn money. She was lucky enough to get her career in showbiz and live with a life of luxury since she was young.

"Okay, that's great." Dipper replied to his sister.

"And the other thing is that Pacifica's ride is here."

"What!" Pacifica exclaimed, "I didn't expect him to be this early and I can't go home yet."

"Dodging a ball?" Dipper asked Pacifica as she started to panic.

"Worse than that. There's a whole lecture waiting for me at home." She turned off her phone at the last second until someone was knocking at the door.

"Ms. Northwest. Your mother is waiting for you at your mansion." Devon asked from the other side of the door.

"I'm fine if I'm telling Pacifica's chaperone with something I can improvise. But what about you." Mabel asked to Dipper.

Pacifica begged Dipper as she grabbed her phone from the couch and his arm, "you're going with me."

As the door was about to be opened by Mabel, The two rushed behind the dressing room. They stood in front of each other, the room was so narrow they could feel each other's breath.

"Hi Sir." Mabel waved at the chaperone.

"I'm looking for Ms. Northwest."

"Apparently she's not here, she went out by herself getting a cup of coffee."

Pacifica whispered as she was shocked in the dressing room, "I don't drink coffee!"

Dipper shushed her as he covered her mouth, "Shh, keep it down."

The chaperone asked Mabel, "Actually she doesn't drink coffee."

Mabel started to sweat nervously as she realized her improvisation s wasn't going as planned and he continued,

"Might as well ask someone else in this building who might see her? Or having any ideas where she might drop by-"

As he was about to step into the room, Mabel blocked his way and convinced him "I-I c-can take you where she is right now."

She accompanied the chaperone out of the room leaving her brother alone with the actress.

When Dipper and Pacifica heard their footsteps and the sound of the door shut. He draped the curtain to peek a little if there was no one around in that room, "It's gonna take a while for Mabel to come back."

They went out of the dressing curtain slowly with any fuss. Pacifica brushed her skirt and continued, "With that out of the way, I'm going to ask you what we'll be doing with you in this private building."

"I'll just sneak out on the back door as soon as possible."

"If you'll get caught?"

"Then I have to run for my life."

Pacifica giggled, "you are really something else, Mr. Pines."

As Dipper walked towards the door, "Where are you going?" she asked.

"I have to go remember? Clearly I'm not supposed to be here."

"You can't just barge out easy peasy just like that. There might be other people outside that might see you. Even worse, they'll call the police."

Dipper started rubbing both sides of his forehead as he was struggling to think of what to do next.

Pacifica insisted, "Wait for me."

"What."

Pacifica stepped back in the dressing room and closed the curtain as well.

Dipper stood there waiting until he heard a sound of a zip from a zipper, "Why are you undressing now?!"

"Relax this is just going to be fast."

Dipper stood there looking at the other side of the room while Pacifica was changing back to her regular clothes.

"Okay I'm done." Pacifica stepped out of the curtain once again and she asked him "I'll go distract them and you go back here you got in. Got that."

As Dipper was looking at Pacifica Walking towards the couch, she sat on the couch taking her heels off and asked, "Can I have my boots? It's under the vanity."

Dipper picked up her boots and placed it on the floor next to her.

She took off her heels and wore her usual boots back.

She stood up and walked to the vanity as she tool her hair updo clips off and gave her hair a little rumble and tossed to make it look natural, "So, listen up."

"You're just wearing an oversized shirt. You're barely wearing anything underneath."

"It's a shirt dress and it's called street fashion."

Pacifica pinched her nose bridge groaning, "Let's go on with it." She grabbed her purse and walked to him and commanded, "I'll go distract them and you go back to where you got in."

"Sounds risky but that'll do."

As Pacifica was about to leave the room she instantly remembered, "Do you have a piece of paper and a pen with you?"

Dipper was struggling to find a piece of paper from his bag but he instead got a pen. Then he suddenly remembered something and he started to check both of his pockets of his own jacket for the receipt he got from Mr. Beasley from his pocket.

He gave it to Pacifica and she wrote something on the back side of the receipt.

She gave it back to him and said, "Here's my cellphone number if you have troubling contact with me"

"Okay Thanks-"

"Call only if it's necessary."

They both stepped out of the room quietly, Pacifica walked ahead the other way from Dipper's way. He looked at her as she walked away, he read the back part of the receipt and saw her phone number. He placed it in his bag and he started his way to the back door from where he went in.

-

"Ma'am I was looking all over for you."

The sky was almost dark as they drove into the neighborhood where Pacifica's mansion was. She glanced out the window and she could see her mansion from a distance.

Devon re-arranged the front mirror of his car, he saw Pacifica nervously grouched, crossed her arms as she looked at her side.

"I swear I just went out to grab some iced coffee."

"I thought you don't like coffee."

"I want to try new things sometimes."

They've arrived at her mansion, she stepped out of the car and made her way to the doorstep. She opened the door and she was surprised no one was at the front. She walked in and went her way to the kitchen.

"Hello darling."

She saw her mom, Mr. & Mrs. Northwest sitting on both ends of the dining table with their dinner on the table.

"Hi mom. Hi dad."

Pacifica left her purse on the kitchen island and sat on the middle seat.

As she sat, they started to eat.

"How was the photoshoot dear?" Mr. Northwest asked.

"Just the usual-"

"How's the upcoming movie project?" he asked.

"Pacifica, about the project with Mr. Beasley. I can make a switch for you." her mother asked to her

"Mom, I can handle this-"

"Honey, Should we let her improve her modeling career?" Mrs. Northwest asked her husband across the table.

"Maybe we should invest her in one of those reality shows lately. I've heard those shows make a big hit." her husband asked

"Preston, our daughter needs something to be in as of the moment. Besides, her body is trained perfectly for the runway."

"Priscilla, we've talked about this. Our daughter needs something else, she did modeling a few years back. I want something fresh for her, something that can catch the people's eye."

"A lot of people recognized our daughter in the fashion industry. She might fill a spot in no time."

"Think of how much money we can get by just letting the people watch our daughter's day to day life."

"Can you both please eat dinner before discussions." Pacifica interrupted their conversation.

The family resumed eating their meals.

As they finished their meals, Pacifica grabbed her table napkin and gently wiped her lips, she insisted, "About the project of Mr. Beasley. I'm going with it."

Both of her parents looked at her as she stood up from the table and was about to walk away

"Now if you excuse me, I want to have a nice relaxing bath."

"Pacifica Northwest, stop this instant." her father commanded as he and his wife were shocked of Pacifica's actions although it wasn't new to them.

"So what." she looked back at them.

"Pacifica. Mind your manners." her mother scolded her.

"If I go back to the modeling industry, it'd make massive travelling expenses and If I would invest myself in my own reality show that would take forever to find people who want to work with me for that project. So I'll take on the movie project."

"She does have a point honey," Her mom looked at her husband "We need to be smart with our strategies. Mr. Beasley movies have quite made an impression in the movie industry lately."

"Are you sure? he's a maniac."

"Dad!"

"If you insist, we'll give this a shot."

Pacifica went shocked yet a bit suspicious of his father's intention.

"Honey, we must make her decisions." her mom insisted

"Priscilla, I have had enough of her attitude. If she wants it she'll have it." her father told his wife and then he looked at Pacifica with his glare, "If this will make your career worse. You'd better be considering how you behave in front of us."

Pacifica looked at his father's glare for a moment. She turned around, snatched her purse from the kitchen island and walked away from her parents in the dining area.

She went upstairs and went inside her room. She tossed her purse on the bed, took her clothes off, placed it in the laundry basket, grabbed her hair clip from her sink to tidy up her hair and went in the shower to take a bath.

As she felt the splash of water on her skin, she remembered the fact that she gave him her phone numbers without her parent's permission.

She stepped out of the shower, wore her bathrobe from her bathroom rack, wore her wool fuzzy indoor slippers, and made her way to her closet to find her matching cream colored silk pajamas in her wardrobe.

She buttoned the last button on her pajama blouse, hung her bathrobe back in the bathroom.

She sat on her bed, opened her purse and grabbed her phone and started to stare on screen. Hoping someone would call her back.

What the heck am I doing.

She lied down on her bed, tossed her phone aside and stared at the ceiling once again.

She closed her eyes for a second and without realizing she went into a deep slumber. It was a long shut eye for her until she felt something vibrating on the side of her bed.

She opened her eyes slowly and looked for her cellphone on her bed in the middle of the night. She rubbed her eyes and looked at her phone, vibrating and she saw an unknown number on the screen of her phone. She picked up the call, "Hello? "

"Finally, you've picked up."

"What..."

"It's me. Mason."

"...It's in the middle of the night."

"Which I have no time to waste."

"..."

"Hello?"

"...Why did you call me?"

"Can't I call you?"

"..."

"Well sorry for interrupting your beauty sleep but I'm just letting you know that I'm already working on the script."

"...why do I get the feeling that's not the only reason why you called me."

"..."

"...hello? "

"How's it with your parents."

"What." Pacifica was shunned with Dipper's question.

"Since the day we've met, I'm pretty sure you gave me an impression where everything you had to do should be under your parent's supervision."

"...suck it. I'm already used to it-"

"No... I'm asking if you're okay."

Pacifica's eyes widened as she was curious enough to ask in her head, _why is he asking me this?_

"I'm telling you, it's fine. Just an ordinary life for me."

"..."

"Why being so silent now."

"...can't I just be silent just for a second? "

"No, it's making me uncomfortable and take note: it's midnight."

"... okay geez, if you want your beauty sleep you could've told me earlier."

"..."

"Okay, I called you because I want you to see my phone number."

Pacifica panicked and said, "Are you stupid?! Just letting you know that I'm a celebrity and I'm not supposed to have my parents know that we exchanged numbers?! Which is why I only gave my phone number to you so I won't need yours?"

"Just write it in a piece of paper then-"

"I'm not letting my parents find out there's a piece of paper with your phone number on it. Too risky."

"Then why did you gave me your number in the first place-"

"Duh, so I can help you? At least with the script writing thing that you've been working on"

"..."

"...did I say something wrong?"

"Thank you."

She wondered why he thanked her, "...Why?"

"I know I might not have a name in the industry or achieved something recognizable in the industry, but thank you for trusting me to work with you."

She smiled a little and replied, "We'll I'm not that cruel and besides this was to thank you for what happened at the bus stop."

"Oh, that... I did what had to be done. If I left you there, standing on your own, you might get into something better than sitting in the bus with you."

"... excuse me? "

"...I was just kidding... you asked me to step up my insult game remember."

"You caught me off guard with that one."

Both of them went silent for a sec and she asked him, "I should sleep."

"Beauty sleep. Got it."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

As the night went on, she ended the call, placed her phone to her bedside table, and tucked herself to a goodnight's sleep.


	7. Author's Note

Hello,

Thank you for reading the part 1 which is composed of 5 chapters of the series.

As you are reading this now, I am currently working on for the next new chapters which will be released during the late of Summer 2021.

Feel free to comment or ask anything regarding about this series in this chapter.

Thank you very much :))

with love,  
Antrivictrianne.


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